#anyway he tries to speak to him and isshin absolutely draws his sword on him

[hollowbait]

i thought of this and was shocked at my own evil, so fair warning.

ichigo has been in love with kisuke for as long as he can remember. what he doesn't know is kisuke and yoruichi have been in love with each other for even longer, unable to be together due to the differences in their status.

when ichigo confesses to kisuke, kisuke doesn't have the heart to reject him. ichigo deserves some happiness. so he just ... fakes it. pretends he loves ichigo in that way.

he has good intentions. he tells yoruichi that they have to part ways for good, and she agrees.

he and ichigo date and eventually move in together. they work well together. kisuke isn't in love with ichigo, but he finds that he likes him — sometimes more than he likes yoruichi. there's less baggage and history. less cruel words said in anger.

ichigo is lovely. he cooks for them and always makes sure kisuke has tea when he's in the labs for too long. he doesn't complain when random parts of experiments end up in their bedroom. in return, kisuke gives him the relationship he deserves. never forgets a birthday or an anniversary. randomly gifts ichigo presents. kisses his forehead or the corner of his mouth as he passes by him in their home.

two years pass and kisuke realises that without him even realising, he's actually fallen in love with ichigo. that the hundred year ache in his chest for yoruichi has faded.

of course, that's when she shows up in his door while ichigo is visiting his sisters in todai, sobbing. thats when they raid their cupboards for sake and get too drunk. and all of a sudden they're kissing and getting naked and he knows he doesn't love her that way anymore, but her body is familiar to him, and it's so easy to fall back into it —

and meanwhile ichigo is about to enter the shoten, having taken an earlier train and wanting to surprise his partner with the cheesecake from tokyo that he loves so much.

[hashtagartistlife]

Thoughts TM on the Live Action (hard spoilers ahead. Also, warning: it’s long.):

- Firstly, the casting. The absolute Best casting decision in this whole movie, visuals-and-acting-wise, is Isshin hands down. He LOOKS like Isshin, he ACTS like Isshin-- actually, Movie!Isshin > Manga!Isshin. They toned down the goof a tiny bit, played up his love and concern for the kids, and put him in an APRON for 90% of his screentime and made him the homemaker. (A++++ MOVE, WHY THE HELL WAS YUZU COOKING FOR EVERYBODY AT THE AGE OF NINE. BAD DECISION KUBO).

- Second best casting decision is Kuchiki Rukia. I remember when her stills first came out I wasn’t 100% on this casting because sure she was gorgeous but she looked????? SO YOUNG????? but guys, she nailed it. NAILED IT. Hana Sugisaki based goddess and if u aren’t her fan now you will be by the time the movie ends.

- Sota Fukushi as Ichigo.... hm. Given that my only criteria when drawing Ichigo is to make him as hot as humanly possible, it was 100% guaranteed that any actor they put up for the role would fall short of my visual expectations from an Ichigo. NGL there are more good looking men out there than Sota Fukushi but to quote both Ro and I from our rabb.it chat during the movie...... sota fukushi hard smash 

(- ok but a serious dilemma: are we attracted to him because he’s attractive, or because he’s playing ichigo and ichigo’s attractive????

-also, chad’s actor hard smash as well)

- SPEAKING of Chad.... he had. Minimal role in the movie but I love that they showed a bit of his bromance with Ichigo. It was always such a cute friendship and they did it justice with what little they showed! Anyway, I like his casting and Orihime’s too, visually speaking. 

- The other casts were fine. Not !!!! worthy but like not terrible casting either. Honestly I feel like Miyavi as Byakuya could have really worked if they hadn’t given him that... AWFUL hair. The hair is even more awful in the movie than it is in the still cuts. Believe it. 

- A final note on the casting... I really hated noticing this but Orihime’s actress? Erina Mano? Looks a LOT like the actress they cast for Masaki and i hate noticing it but I did. But it’s not time for the ir tea/ih salt yet that comes later

- Secondly: Characterisation. Overall decent, but you can really tell that like... they spent the most amount of care on getting the central IR dynamic right and sorta just went ‘lol that’s good enough’ for the others. It’s almost like they spent all of their characterisation budget on IR and had minimal left over to spare for minor characters (e.g: Orihime). You’ll see what I mean.

- Once again, hands down best characterisation in the whole movie is Isshin and Rukia. Isshin’s bodily comedy with Ichigo was done SO realistically, in a way that’s funny and not too over-the-top. The way they kept playing off each other as slightly overbearing father and moody teenage son was FANTASTIC. And one of the moments that had me MOST emotional in this movie was when Isshin was shown by Ichigo’s bedside, taking care of him while he’s recovering from injuries. Ichigo, upon waking from a dream of his mum, asks Isshin if he ever dreams of her. Isshin’s answer? ‘Every night’. EVERY NIGHT, MOTHERFUCKER. GOD I was never a hard isshimassa stan but this movie got me FEELING things for them 

- Hana’s interpretation of Rukia is FANTASTIC. Unbelievably spot on. The emotional unavailability, her rigid initial adherence to what she believes is the shinigami code, the adorable naivete re: human world customs, the way she steamrollers over Ichigo, the way that, no matter how hard she tries to be aloof, she can’t hide the fact that she cares. She cares so much. And honestly, if there’s one thing this movie does well, it’s how they managed to get those manga-panel comic violence situations to translate so well to reality. Isshin-on-Ichigo violence translated well, and the Rukia-on-Ichigo violence translates excellently as well. Their little bickering scenes play out EXACTLY how I, at least, imagined them to go, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Also, I honestly think her looking really young works to her advantage, because it really gives you a sense of like… how bemused Ichigo must be by this whole situation. My predominant thought every time hana is on screen is SHE’S SO CUTE AND LOVELY I CAN’T DEAL WITH IT, except this tiny girl who you can only think of as ‘cute’ is like…. Bossing you around and beating your ass with a sword and instilling fucking philosophy lessons in you. It’s so surreal? And if it’s surreal for US then just imagine how surreal it must be for Ichigo.

- Sota’s Ichigo.... once again, hmm. His ‘trying to be cool’ acting (i.e. during the fight scenes) was cringey, but I can’t tell if that’s his acting skill or just the fact that what looks ‘cool’ on manga panels inVARIABLY look cringey in real life. Probably the latter. And I think he’s a LITTLE too growly for my taste, but then again, I’m used to post-timeskip Ichigo who’s a bit more... low-key cynical rather than prickly. Initial Ichigo was pretty abrasive, so I guess that’s in-character. Also, his most-said line of dialogue in this movie is ‘HAH??’ which is hilarious and very in-character. Honestly, Hana as Rukia is straight up excellent for the whole duration of the movie but I definitely think Sota shone MOST when he was acting in combination with Isshin or Rukia. Whatever I think about his individual acting skills, he definitely had chemistry with those actors in terms of dynamics.

- Guys, the IR in this is fantastic. Brilliant. Like I said, their bickering plays out to a TEE how I imagined things to go. Literally cannot fault their bickering. Their soft heartfelt moments are SO GOOD too. And they were all shot so…. Intimately? Their softer scenes were shot with such heartbreaking tenderness and I just….. ugh. Hana Sugisaki REALLY brought her acting A-game. ALSO THE WAY LITERALLY EVERYONE THINKS THEY’RE DATING??? RENJI SHOWS UP AND IS LIKE ‘OOPS I THINK I KILLED YOUR BOYFRIEND’ TO RUKIA. RENJI SAYS THAT. BYAKUYA THINKS SHE’S TOO ‘EMOTIONALLY INVOLVED’. Not to even mention Keigo and Tatsuki and Orihime……. God. Absolutely unbelievable.

- Now, if I was being picky and HAD to talk about a few gripes…. Let’s see. It takes Ichigo more time to warm up to Rukia than in canon, and he’s more of an asshole to her in this time period too. But y’know, that’s a very minor gripe. The other teeny tiny gripe I have about the IR is like…. A gripe but also not a gripe at the same time lmfao. OK so at the end when Renji and Byakuya are trying to take Rukia away, Ichigo plants himself in front of Rukia and says ‘I’m going to protect you’ and he repeats this multiple times in the fight, which, yes, extremely shippy, I’m going to die on the pavement et al, but also… this might be a weird gripe for some, because the ir dynamic has always been them protecting and saving each other. But not in so many words? It’s always been a very equal protection dynamic, partly because Rukia won’t LET him be her protector. I subscribe to the meta that this is precisely why she’s good for Ichigo. It’s also what drives him up the wall, because WHY WON’T SHE LET HIM KEEP HER SAFE, but it’s the fact that Rukia REFUSES to be one of his ‘protected people’, the fact that Rukia DEMANDS equal footing to him, that quashes down the more destructive aspects of his will to protect. But yeah, I feel like that line – ‘I’m going to protect you/her’, repeated multiple times—sort of erases the inherent equality in their dynamic and puts Rukia in the ‘protected’ pile. But that’s just because the movie didn’t have enough time for the rest of the arc. Look honestly the ir in the movie is FINE. The only reason I’m even bringing this up is because I have the manga version to compare it to, and it’s an unfair comparison to begin with because obviously the manga has so much more to work with. Overall, if you’re worried about the IR characterisation in this movie—don’t be. They hard carried the whole thing. Sota and Hana are an absolute DELIGHT to watch playing off each other. They have GREAT chemistry supported by well-shot scenes and good dialogue. 11/10 worth watching just for these two alone.

- Yuzu and Karin. Even though they changed their designs to look identical in the movie (I’m guessing for the instant visual cue of ‘oh they’re twins!’), I’m glad they kept their personalities the same. Karin is snarky as ever, Yuzu is sweet. So +1 for that. But then they made Yuzu (Karin?) say ‘Onii-chan, I’m scared’ during the fishbone D attack, rather than the canonical ‘get away, you’ll get hurt’. Which… look, fair, she’s eleven, I think that’s more realistic, but ALSO YOU JUST???? CHANGED HER WHOLE CHARACTERISATION. CAN WE PUT SOME RESPECT ON HER NAME PLEASE

- Uryuu……hmm. They made him a LITTLE more chill than he was in the manga, but he was such a dramatic character in canon already that he still comes off pretty darn dramatic in the movie. I did really like his characterisation, but he had such little screentime that I’m finding it difficult to like… do any substantial comparisons to his manga character. I’m thinking I might need a rewatch to solidify my opinions on Uryuu. But his little scene at the very end with Ichigo after they all lose their memories of Rukia is very sweet and makes me wonder about their dynamic if they hadn’t had all this quincy-shinigami bs to sort through.

- Chad was in the movie even less than Uryuu, but I have no complaints about his characterisation. Pretty accurate to manga canon.

- Guys I LOVE Keigo in this movie. ‘He died on the spot’ Iconic roast. LET KEIGO ROAST ICHIGO 2K18

- Tatsuki was eh. She wasn’t in the movie long enough for me to really have an opinion on her characterisation, and it’s unfortunate that the only part of her character they brought from manga canon was the ‘give Orihime bad advice on how to date Ichigo’ part, but whatever. It’s not technically WRONG characterisation, just not the FULL characterisation.

- Orihime…………… god, Orihime. Look you guys know that even though I have my ‘and NONE FOR ORIHIME BYE’ days, they’re mostly in jest, and I actually do appreciate her as a character. I like her, mostly! I think she’s fascinating to write about and explore! I think she deserved good things, better things than what the ending set her up for!

- But I’d strangle movie Orihime without hesitation. Bye bitch

- OK, you know how you thought anime Orihime with her constant ‘Kurosaki-kun’s was annoying??? Movie orihime was WORSE. Movie Orihime? Straight up yandere. She literally doesn’t have a single appearance where she’s not talking about Ichigo or being weirdly jealous of Ichigo and Rukia’s friendship or worrying about Ichigo in an overbearing, over-the-top way. And I’m actually really frustrated and disappointed about this, because early Karakura Orihime was ACTUALLY A GOOD CHARACTER!!!!!! Orihime, imo, is the most egregious OOC in this movie. Which is a shame, because the rest of the characterisation was actually… ok and decent

- Renji and Byakuya….. ohhhh boy. Renji and Byakuya are characterised as straight up villains for the whole movie with no redemption. There’s no nuance of them being possibly friendly and/or having concern for Rukia at all throughout the whole movie, which could be OOC depending on how you look at it, but honestly it makes sense considering this movie only covers up to chapter 56 Broken Coda and does NONE of the SS arc. Basically, their characterisations are how we would characterise them based on the one time they came to collect Rukia. They’re cold, uncaring, think humans aren’t worth anything, and that emotions are a human weakness. RENJI STRAIGHT UP SWINGS A SWORD AT AN UNARMED CIVILIAN CLOTHED RUKIA (yes I know it happened in the manga too but. It’s a lot more shocking watching it happen real-time) and also STABBED!!!! URYUU!!!!!! IN THE BACK!!! WHILE HE WASN’T DOING ANYTHING THREATENING!!! So, uh, this movie really said ‘fuck renji rights’. God I’m imagining like… if ur introduction to Bleach was through this movie, and you decided to look up how the manga ends and it’s RENRUKI and you’re like ?????????????? THE DUDE SWUNG A SWORD AT HER????? Like FORGET IH, this movie really fucking hated rr. Which… im not mad about lmfao

- Final note on characterisation: as usual, IR fucking hard carries, but what ELSE is new for this franchise. Isshin was a surprising dark horse. Overall, characterisation FINE, not OOC with one glaring exception, but sometimes because of time constraints certain characters didn’t get their FULL RANGE of characterisation.

- THIRDLY: overall technical excellence of the movie in terms of script, camera angles, choreography, CGI, etc etc

- My one line summary for this is…. It’s an anime live action adaptation. I hope ur not expecting much from this department at all

- Like, in terms of is it a GOOD movie? Lmfao. I enjoyed the hell out of it, sure, but I don’t think someone who has no idea what bleach is would a) understand what the heck is going on OR b) find the story to be well-paced and well-told. Like, I KNEW what was coming and what was going on, and even I found the movie to be a bit disjointed, kind of like old metal machinery that needs oiling to get going.

- Honestly this movie is similar to the manga in that… technically speaking it’s not great, but its strengths lie in the character arcs and the overall poetic parallels it tries to pull. It may not have been the most artistically executed, but I could tell that they really tried to put the parallel in between IR protecting each other and Masaki dying to protect Ichigo. Like, an attempt was noted! It was appreciated! Obviously they don’t do it with as much grace as the manga did but y’know, they tried!

- The script was actually really great in this movie. Bleach is a very snarky manga and the script really showcases that. Everyone shows a lot of sass. I like that. The one exception to the script being good was whenever a hollow opened its mouth to speak. They really gave the hollows dialogue like ‘I WANT YOUR SOUL’ and ‘GIVE ME YOUR SOUL’…. Like. Someone got paid for that dialogue and they really shouldn’t have.

- I honestly don’t have an opinion on the CGI. Ro kept saying that the cgi was BAD and like I guess it was, but I’m pretty lenient about CGI in general. I already know it’s going to be CGI so unless it’s BLATANTLY fake I overlook it.

- But there is this ONE SCENE of Renji going into shikai that looks so awfully fake that even I was like ‘ok no that was BAD’ so I guess CGI bad

- The choreo in the fight scenes is messy and disjointed and very cringey. I can’t believe they managed to pull manga-style comical violence in REAL LIFE and make it look believable and funny, but couldn’t choreography a decent fight scene……. Man idk. I guess they really DID spend all their budget on making IR as excellent as possible.

- Overall: technically speaking it’s a terrible movie, but will that hinder your enjoyment of it? Probably not. Watch it just for the excellent banter.

- FINALLY: Miscellaneous yelling about various scenes through 120% Ichiruki-filtered glasses.

- Guys, this movie. This movie. They really sat down and said ‘ok give them literally every single early-karakura ichiruki fanfic trope situation ever’ and that’s it, that’s the movie

- ICHIGO KEEPS LEANING DOWN RIGHT INTO RUKIA’S FACE!!!! THEY HAVE NOOOOO CONCEPT OF PERSONAL SPACE!!!! Which I guess is canon but THEY KEEP!!!!! LEANING!!!!! INTO EACH OTHER!!!! I will DIE

- The sPARRING????????? THE SPARRING?????

- Ichigo smirks while sparring her. She’s kicking his ass and goddammit, he LIKES it

- They legit made Rukia tackle Ichigo and pin him to the ground and then they made Ichigo flip them around

- And then they made ORIHIME WALK IN ON THAT

- UN!!!! BELIEVABLE!!!!!!!

- (Sidenote: they made Orihime act so weirdly jealous of that?? Like… wtf orihime. You’re not his girlfriend like she has no rights to be acting like this…. Look the Orihime characterisation in this movie is A Mess)

- They have conversations through shut closet doors while ichigo’s lying on his bed THIS APPEARS IN EVERY. SINGLE. IR EARLY KARAKURA FIC EVER IM

- Ichigo: CAN YOU GET OUT OF MY CLOSET. NO YOU CAN’T LIVE IN MY HOUSE

- Also Ichigo, the INSTANT he can’t find Rukia in his closet: WHERE IS SHE. LET ME JUST RUN AROUND IN THE DARK OUTSIDE TO FIND HER. HEY URYUU HOW DO I GET TO THE AFTERLIFE. WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN’T BRING HER BACK. SO WHAT IF I DO, HUH? WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT. FIGHT ME

- Also ichigo becomes so much SOFTER towards Rukia after a certain point in this movie and…. God…… I love that you can see that switch in Sota’s acting. I’m going to CRY

- OK THIS IS A VERY SHORT SCENE BUT AT ONE POINT RUKIA LANDS ON A ROOFTOP WITH AN INJURED ICHIGO AND SHE LIT. RUBS HER HANDS ALL OVER THE BARE SKIN ON HIS CHEST BC SHE’S RUBBING MEDICINE INTO HIM!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!! WHERE’S THE M-15 RATING ON THIS MOVIE BC SHE LEGIT!!! HAD HER HANDS!!!! ALL OVER HIM!!!!! Ro and I shouted abt this so much God

- The final fight is RIDICULOUS in terms of HOW MUCH ICHIGO WON’T STAY DOWN and it’s framed SO dramatically lmfao but y’know, it’s shot in a very IR light, I’ll take it

- Ro and I literally were just like IT’S THE POWER OF LOVE BITCH bc he legit just KEPT getting up it was ridiculous

- Also rukia’s final speech to ichigo after she does her whole broken coda ‘don’t touch my brother lowly human’ spiel is…. Beautiful. Fucking excellent

- ‘you’re rude and brash and I’m sick of all humans especially you’ but like. Why is this literally kate’s ’10 things I hate about you’ speech at the end of that movie

- ICHIGO DOESN’T TAKE HIS EYES OFF RUKIA THE WHOLE TIME SHE’S ERASING HIS MEMORIES. DOESN’T EVEN BLINK. THIS IS SOME EP 342 TEAS ALL OVER AGAIN. FUCK. I’M GOING TO!!!! DIE!!!

- Ok so my opinion on how they changed the end: it was necessary to tie things all up in one movie but that doesn’t mean I don’t hate the fact that ichigo ostensibly forgot rukia when in canon HE’S THE ONLY ONE THAT REMEMBERED

- I guess the final scene where he looks at her writing on his textbook and smiles could be a sort of clue that he’s starting to remember. Man idk I think I’d just feel really cheated as a viewer who isn’t coming from a bleach manga/anime background, that everyone just conveniently ‘forgot’. It’s equivalent to an ‘it was all a dream!’ kind of ending imo. It’s a copout. But at the same time I can see why it was necessary :’/

- Also, this exchange with uryuu at the end where they exchange hellos before pulling up short and going ‘wait- do I know you?’ ‘no. but good to know you’ was SO HEARTBREAKING BUT SO GOOD I REALLY DID LOVE THAT

- Whoo ok I’m SURE I’ve forgotten some details but this is already EXCESSIVELY long so. Final FINAL thoughts:

- The quality of the movie is, obviously, not great, but if you were worried about weird chara interpretations and relationships, don’t be. Unless you’re an IH/RRstan or an Orihime fan. This will not be a fun movie for you. But then again, you managed to work through 686 chapters of a manga that clearly wasn’t fun for you and seemed to be ok with it, so maybe this movie won’t bother you either.

- The script is surprisingly solid and has genuinely good, occasionally touching, snarky, sassy dialogue. Good attempts at poeticism and various parallels and callbacks.

- Ichiruki fucking hard carries, and so does isshin. I love uryuu but that may just be my uryuu bias talking.

- Objectively, maybe a 4, 5/10. Ichiruki-wise? 8/10. Obviously this was written in a high straight after the movie and like, maybe after a few days or like a rewatch or w/e my opinions may change. But rn? God I love stanning legends, viva la ichiruki fuck you

[hashtagartistlife]

I, a whole dumbass who doesn’t know the concept of ‘spacing things out’: *uploads two pieces of writing in rapid succession*

anyway, daemon au continuation! pt 1 here. a note: this is pretty much being uploaded as it’s being written, no editing, not much thought into how the whole thing will fit together (got a broad outline, but not much inbetween), daemons are being picked mostly for the..... uh.... #Aesthetic, details may be subject to change, I’m always taking more daemon suggestions, even for characters whose daemons have already popped up, etc. 

@femmeflannellesbian who left the BEST tags on my pt 1, here’s to you. Good news: Daemon au is being written whether or not you pay me! Bad news: It may or may not be shit. :’/ anyway, thanks for the tags on the last part, they always cheer me up. <3 

The two of them watch the dissection of their mother, the entire, bloody thing, clinging to each other all the while.

.

.

.

Six years later

.

.

.

The first thought that occurs to Ichigo is: she’s an awfully brazen thief.

Then, the second thought that occurs to him: she doesn’t have a daemon.

The second thought is rather more shocking than the first; living people don’t just not have daemons. That’s an impossibility, an irrationality; a warping of the way the world is meant to be. Living people can’t not have a daemon.

So, she’s not alive.

Most other people would have quailed at this conclusion. Not Ichigo. He’s made that mistake once before and he won’t make it again. Just because she’s a ghost doesn’t mean she can’t be a thief— and it also doesn’t mean he won’t kick her ass. She’s picked the wrong house to try to burgle tonight.

A brief but animated scuffle ensues. His dad intervenes and is generally useless. Ghost girl tells him she’s part of some dead secret service that kills monsters (bullshit) and puts supernatural restraints on him when he doesn’t believe her (bitch).

And then, just because Ichigo’s life is a constant one-upmanship of Murphy’s Law, said monster appears and starts decimating his family.

His third thought for the night: ghost girl is tiny. She is possibly even smaller than his sisters and yet there she is, drawing a sword out of nowhere, telling him to stay in his room like a good boy and not get in the way—

Motherfuck, is that Karin lying bloody in the hallway?

The next few moments are a blur for him. He vaguely recalls Serafin shooting past him, a meteor of rage and feathers, the both of them tearing through ghost girl’s restraints like a hot knife through butter. Somewhere along the way, he must have picked up a baseball bat, because in the next moment he’s swinging it at the monster’s face and being knocked backwards into a telephone pole. Ghost girl appears with her sword, still resolutely daemon-less, and between her and the monster Ichigo can’t tell which is more unsettling. And then he remembers ghost girl didn't knock him into a telephone pole, and decides to go with the monster.

Then ghost girl falls, too, and it’s just him and her and Serafin and the monster lumbering in the background and a sword pointed at his chest, bearing a decision that is not a decision at all.

“It is not shinigami,” ghost girl says,  half a smile on her face; “it is Kuchiki Rukia.”

“Kurosaki Ichigo,” he says.

“Serafin,” his daemon nods from where she’s perched on his shoulder.

“Let’s pray this isn’t our last greeting,” they say in unison, and then the world dissolves in fire and heat.

Kurosaki Ichigo’s last thought for the night, as he collapses into Rukia's lap after cleaving the monster in half: whether those are tears or raindrops on her face, and just what on earth he could possibly have done to make her look so sad.

*

When he wakes up again, he's inches from death-by-smelly-feet.

“I--CHI--GOOOO!” his loon of a dad sing-songs, and Ichigo, honed by years of his dad’s antics, piledrivers him into the ground by his face. At the doorway, Lyrani winces.

“You’re the one who didn't stop him,” Ichigo says accusingly. Lyrani chooses to ignore that and slinks out of the room. 

Serafin finally shakes free of the bedcovers she'd been trapped under and flits over to inspect the situation. “But— but, the injuries—” she says, hovering over Isshin, and that's when Ichigo notices it too.

“What about your injuries?” he demands of Isshin, and Isshin just looks nonplussed.

“Injuries? What injuries? When did I get injured?”

“You— what about last night—”

“Ah!” his father's face lights up as though they’re finally speaking the same language. “So you did wake up for that ruckus! And you didn't even think to come downstairs, huh? I tell you, no use having a son in the house, absolutely no use at all—”

Ichigo lets his dad babble on with a sound of disgust and stomps out of the room, since he’s clearly not getting answers from him. He finds the twins downstairs, looking at a giant hole in their living room wall. He catalogues no broken bones, no bruises, no trauma in their expressions and wonders if he might be going just a little bit mad.

He looks at Karin for an explanation, and she shrugs. Her daemon (in the form of a small, lazy black cat today) takes up the story for her. “Truck crashed into the side of our house last night. Car and driver got away scott-free. Well, at least the house is insured.”

The explanation is typical Karin and Zenka (short), but he gets the gist. Through the ruined wall, he sees Mizuiro waving at him from the pavement. He waves back weakly, and Mizuiro points to the destruction, expression curious. Ichigo only offers him a shrug, and then Isshin shoots past him, seemingly recovered. Ichigo decides to leave the excuses— however unbelievable they may be— to his father, and turns away to get ready for school.

“A truck?” Serafin queries, low and conspiratory. Ichigo scowls.

“Hell if I know.” He pauses in the kitchen to see the bar stools— distinctly and viciously ruined in last night’s scuffle— restored to their former not-so-glory. He can even see the chip he made in one of them when he was twelve, having accidentally dropped an entire set of plates on it. A truck crashing into their house last night made absolutely no sense as an explanation— but then again, it’s not like what really happened was the height of sensical anyway.

“Do you think she made it out okay?” Serafin asks, a touch of anxiety colouring her voice, and Ichigo doesn't need to ask who she is.

“Well, it looks like she was ok enough to somehow heal everyone and fake a truck crashing into our house, so she's probably fine,” he mutters, but Serafin doesn't look all that comforted by that, and to tell the truth, neither is he.

When he manages to make his way to school, he finds Mizuiro and Tatsuki in the middle of a conversation about him, the latter well on her way to forming some pretty dire misconceptions.

“A truck?! Then is he injured, or-- or dead--"

He whacks her in the head with his bag. “Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not dead. And that's my seat you're in.” He directs the last part to Altair, Tatsuki’s golden eagle daemon, who squawks in indignation and takes off, leaving long gouges on the desk that’ll be a pain to write on. Ichigo’s scowl deepens. 

“Ah, Kurosaki-kun! G-good morning!”

Inoue waves a cheery hello as he pulls out his seat, her ring-tailed lemur daemon— Ichigo can't remember his name, it was something long and fancy sounding— chattering around her shoulders. His reply is a beat late and a little bemused.

“Y-yeah? You're as bright as ever.” He sits down and starts pulling books out of his bag. “Yo, Mizuiro, what's third period today?”

“Social studies.”

“Oh. I didn't bring my textbook, but that’s fine, Miss Ochi doesn't care--"

“You’re Kurosaki-kun…?” a new voice interrupts him, and Ichigo finally pays more attention to the fact that he has, apparently, been assigned a new seating partner. There is an unfamiliar daemon draped across the table next to his, something small and furry— a hare? A rabbit? He's always been terrible at telling them apart— grooming itself with dainty licks. It flicks a cool look up at him, and looks supremely unimpressed with what it sees.

“Ichigo.” Serafin hisses in his ear, nudging him under his hair rather insistently. “Ichigo, holy shit.”

“What?” he mutters, distracted by the utter indifference of the new daemon. How does something so small ever get to be so haughty?

Serafin pecks him, and he startles. “OW!”

“Nice to meet you,” his new partner tries again, amusement evident in her voice. Ichigo looks up, and freezes.

“Oh,” he agrees. “Holy shit.”

Kuchiki Rukia smiles up at him, completely at ease, one hand extended towards him in a handshake, the other idling in the fur of her brand new daemon.