#myscrap

[cheshiresense]

Hi Cross! I'm so happy you're writing for ShunStarrk, it's one of my favrite ships and Starrk is one of favorite characters and I love how you write them. I also couldn't help thinking about wat would happen if you sent Starrk bac with Ichigo in Swinging Pendulum (or just TBTP). You've done Kisuke and Aizen so I was curious how it would go with Starrk. I'd love to see any ideas you might have for it!

lol my first thought when I saw this was a mental image of Ichigo throwing Starrk at Shunsui and being like “go seduce us an ally!” 😂😂😂

But okay, more seriously, I have a few thoughts on it so I guess I'll just ramble a bit? Well first of all, in an AU like SP/TBTP, I would employ one of my handy dandy Bleach headcanons where the next step up from Arrancar is a fully restored soul, so to speak. We know Hollows are generally souls that Shinigami failed to purify and save in time, but I like to think that as Hollows, after hitting rock bottom, if they have the power and the strength of will and the ability to survive long enough to work all the way back up on their own, they can actually fix themselves.

(I actually also headcanon that becoming “perfect artificial Arrancar” via Aizen and his Hougyoku actually stagnates them, so they’re given a power boost and Shinigami-like powers, but they’ve basically peaked and will never again be able to grow much because there is no growth from perfection, which also explains why the Visored’s power levels have always felt a cut below the other captains and lieutenants’ and even after a hundred years they could never manage much with their Hollow abilities, nor did they make any significant improvements or contributions between WW and TYBW, because the Hougyoku pushes you to the pinnacle of your potential at that point in your life, but by doing so, it also cuts off any possibility of further growth, and so over time you might even deteriorate. And all of that ties neatly back into one of Bleach’s major themes of perfection/stagnancy vs. growth/development. But I digress, that isn’t overly important here.)

My point is, the fuckery in the bad end future where Ichigo and Starrk are from lasted long enough and resulted in a terrible enough war that Starrk finally allowed himself that last step of growth and became a whole - if scarred - soul again, so he no longer has a Hollow hole or that collar of teeth, and he has a proper Zanpakutou merged with his Hollow abilities. So like he’s the first and only Hollow ever who managed to rebuild his own soul and is super OP as a result. Like if Aizen’s the upper limit of a Shinigami, and Yhwach is the upper limit of a Quincy, then Starrk would be the upper limit of a Hollow, which the Soul King took into account and was like yay finally the best of a species that isn’t out to ball the universe for once, he’s hella depressed and lonely and grieving but he’s just gonna have to deal cuz the world isn’t going to save itself and my god-slaying mad-scientist-experiment-child of a descendant needs all the help he can get to pull his saviour schtick off again.

All of which is just to say Starrk can blend in much better in Soul Society and yes I took the long-ass way around just to establish this single plot point lmao.

Secondly, as implied above, I’d prob change the final big bad to the Quincy because 1) it’s fresher in my mind and also 2) it gives me more established material to work with. Also 3) we’ll pretend Yhwach wasn’t senile and so didn’t kill off half his own army, because lbr his Auswahlen won half the war for the Shinigami in canon. And this way we get the tragic bad end we need to kick off an SP AU.

And thirdly, just to tie up that loose end, you can’t have two of the same souls in one timeline, so past!Starrk&Lilynette wink out of existence the moment the Soul King drops future!Starrk in TBTP because I’m heartless like that and the more angst the merrier.

Also fourthly, the thing about sending Starrk back with Ichigo is that the dynamic is just so completely different than if it were Kisuke or Aizen or Shinji or any of Ichigo's friends. Like I guess in other fics you usually see Starrk as one of Ichigo's ppl, lured over to the good side because of Ichigo's whole power of friendship, friends and family must be protected thing, and I enjoy reading those of course, but writing-wise, I can't really get behind it because for me, their relationship would come out sth like part-comrade, part-mentor/student because someone's gotta teach Ichigo how to Hollow and I honestly don't rly count the Visored training as such because what they did was basically the equivalent of a temporary patchjob/lesson on how to unhealthily repress a part of yourself instead of actually dealing with it, all so it won't get in the way of fighting Aizen, so Ichigo never actually gets around to harnessing that side of him as opposed to everything he does with his Shinigami and Quincy sides, and lastly part-wow-this-kid-is-a-hundred-years-away-from-becoming-another-Aizen-if-the-Shinigami-keep-fucking-up-with-him whenever Starrk looks at Ichigo, because if anyone aside from Ichigo understood what made Aizen into the would-be-god he became, it would be Starrk, and there's no way he wouldn't be able to see the exact same potential in Ichigo.

And yeah, technically Kisuke was a mentor too, same with Shinji and a few others, but with their history, it's hard to really see that role as one of their main ones, esp since all of them end up following Ichigo's lead. If you want to get poetic about it, he's the sun they're drawn to and revolve around and devote themselves to. That's completely not the case with Starrk. If anyone is Starrk's sun, it's Shunsui. Plus Starrk's just a lot older than most of them so he can't just be crammed into the peer/partner/friend willing to burn SS down for Ichigo and follow him to the ends of the world box. It would be the same if it was Shunsui or Ukitake sent back. But that's fun to play with too, something new, and I imagine Starrk's got a soft spot for kids, and this one was also taught by Shunsui (a la SP canon), and Starrk taught Ichigo as well, so it's not like they don't get along or that Starrk wouldn't absolutely throw down with someone trying to take another chunk out of Ichigo. It's just that this is a dynamic where for once, Ichigo isn't the absolute top priority and object of fascination/love/devotion for the one sent back in time with him. For Starrk, that position's already taken by a certain Shinigami captain.

And wow okay we're not even into the actual AU and I already rambled too much, I guess I'll end this with the two of them entering the Academy after wandering in from the wilds of Rukongai? In SP, I had Ichigo being found by the Shibas and sort of faking amnesia, but I feel like it's simpler here to go with the two of them finding their way to the Seireitei on their own, and then the Shibas hear of someone with a face that could pass for Kaien's twin, so ofc Kaien's immediately like HELLO LONG-LOST FAM and rolling out the welcome mat.

Obviously Ichigo's like fuck that this is way too soon after losing all my actual friends and family, but Shibas don't know how to take no for an answer (honestly you're like that too Ichigo), so there's a good few weeks where Kaien haunts the Academy like an enthusiastic ghost two steps left of empty nest syndrome or something, and Ichigo spends an equal amount of time ignoring him in favour of tearing through the Academy curriculum like a man on a mission, which he technically is. He doesn't like the attention, but he's also never had much patience for subtlety, and he's used to ignoring other ppl's opinions of him anyway, so by the end of the month, everybody knows him as the newest Shiba prodigy slated to graduate in a year, and Ichigo doesn't care so long as he gets what he wants.

Meanwhile, not many people notice the man who'd come to the city with Ichigo and applied to the Academy at the same time. Unlike Ichigo, Starrk is very good at fading into the background, and it's doubly easy when you put him next to someone whose very existence is as bright and loud as Ichigo's, with the kind of charisma that attracts ppl to him even when he doesn't do anything.

That suits Starrk just fine. He's exhausted and heartsore and still not entirely sure why he'd said yes when Mimihagi had waylaid him when he'd been on the brink of death and asked him to accompany Ichigo back in time to save the world. He's not a hero, not anyone important or special, and also not particularly interested in living in a world without Kyouraku Shunsui - his Shunsui - in it. But Shunsui had also died for the world, for the Soul Society he'd devoted his life to protecting, died to buy time for others to live just a little bit longer, and it had seemed a mockery of one of the things Shunsui had held so dear if Starrk didn't even try to protect it too when the option was laid out in front of him. Besides, it had also seemed unfair to leave it all to Ichigo, to dump the literal weight of the universe on the kid's shoulders once again, and this time he wouldn't even have any help if Starrk didn't go because everyone else was dead or - Starrk assumes - not as strong as him. Once again, his strength is more a curse than anything else. So he supposes he does know why he'd agreed - a moment of insanity, a moment of weakness - and now here he is stuck in an era he'd certainly lived through before but in a location he'd only ever seen in the midst of war.

Peacetime at least affords him time to rest, although he's not sure how he likes that either. Fighting and killing at least means he has little time for anything else, like sleep plagued with nightmares, but it's that or staring into empty space and being plagued with memories instead, and that's not really any better. Still, he deals and doesn't let Ichigo catch on to the fact that his head's not in a great place because the kid doesn't need anymore on his plate. It's not like Ichigo's getting much sleep either anyway if the bags under his eyes are anything to go by. Besides, Starrk's used to nightmares and bad memories. He has a thousand years' worth under his belt, so it's nothing new, even if the content is.

The Academy is something of a novelty, if only because he's never gone to school before. So unlike Ichigo, he doesn't mind going to lectures instead of immediately testing out of most classes and jumping straight to the sixth-year curriculum and whatever extra credit work that Zanjutsu department head who likes stalking Ichigo gives him. Starrk had checked and discovered that so long as he applies for it before the deadline, he can take the graduation exams at the end of the year, and so long as he passes, the school doesn't much care what classes make it onto his academic transcript. There's even been clan kids who just stay at home with an army of private tutors before directly taking the exams and entering the Gotei that way.

But like Ichigo, there's also not much the Academy teaches that he doesn't excel at. Combat-wise, there are already very few people in all the known worlds who can best him, let alone anyone in this school. His worst subject is history, because he knows almost nothing of Soul Society aside from major events he'd heard of in passing and anything related to Quincy, but when everything else is easy, that just means he can spend all his time memorizing the readings he's assigned.

Aside from that, he goes to class and sleeps in class, he skips class and sleeps then too, he spars whoever the teacher wants him to but never volunteers otherwise, and he's very careful to keep his reiatsu levels under wraps. He looks at his classmates in each class and picks out the middling to above average students and copies their progress, and he doesn't bother doing more.

"Isn't it boring?" Ichigo asks him once when he's once again hiding from his cousin in Starrk's room. Starrk shrugs from his bed and doesn't tell him that one doesn't know boredom until they've spent a thousand years alone in a barren desert. Anything else is a step up. Even if all the theory in his lectures are things he's already read about because Shunsui had let him have free reign in the private library back home, hearing it again never hurts. "It's a pretty good sleep aid," Starrk says instead, just to hear the amused snort it coaxes from Ichigo.

It is of course impossible to fool everyone, and Starrk hadn't been aiming for that anyway. Ichigo also doesn't spend time with anybody else, so inevitably, two months into their Academy life, one Koyonagi Senzou turns his attention on the man who probably spends more time sleeping than anyone else in the Seireitei.

"All your assignments fulfill the minimum requirements," Koyonagi says, smiling from behind his desk after summoning Starrk to his office. "Never more, never less, perfect across the board even if they all come back with a note suggesting you could try earning some bonus points. All your tests are returned with a score of 75-80%. Never more, never less, but the points that get docked off are always for questions you've left blank. And every single week, you win exactly half your total spars. Never more, never less. Tell me, Coyote-san, do you think yourself more or less subtle than Ichi-chan?" Starrk blinks once, slowly, and stares back without the energy to muster much more than a noncommittal grunt. Koyonagi reminds him a little of Aizen and a lot of Ichimaru, and this kind of person, Starrk knows, wants for nothing so much as they do a reaction. "Wasn't trying to be subtle," Starrk eventually says when it becomes clear that Koyonagi is perfectly willing to wait him out for as long as it takes, and Starrk doesn't care enough about power plays to try and win this one, not when he hasn't even been offered a chair to sit in. "I've been passing everything, so it's fine, right?" Koyonagi doesn't stop smiling, but it becomes just the slightest bit fixed the way Ichimaru's had when he'd not been entirely pleased with his prey's response. Even Starrk probably would've missed it if Ichimaru hadn't often looked like that around Starrk. As expected, the teacher prods a few more times, a little more cutting each round, and Starrk in turn replies with the same dull apathy that comes so very easily to him. "Well-played," Koyonagi finally says, and he just looks bored now. "Although I honestly can't fathom what Ichigo sees in someone so lacking in... ambition." He pauses like he wants Starrk to hear the insult underneath, like he wants Starrk to take offense, but Starrk's barely paying attention as it is, and there was no question anyway, which means Starrk isn't expected to answer, so he doesn't. Koyonagi sighs like he's never met a bigger disappointment. "Never mind, you're dismissed." His eyes glitter with something like mockery. "Your new schedule will be sent to you by tonight. You'll be moved up to the sixth year classes. Do keep up the good work, won't you?" Starrk raises an eyebrow, then sighs right back. Well, whether it's first year or sixth year, it's all the same to him. He's not the one who took the initiative to present himself as a genius, and students are moved in and out of classes for more reasons than just skipping grades. And with Ichigo around, no one will look twice at him. He dips his head in acknowledgement and wonders why people like this can't just say what they want to begin with. This had clearly been the point from the very beginning and could've been over and done with in two minutes, but this meeting's dragged on for half an hour. What a troublesome guy. He heads for the door. The weather is nice today. Maybe he'll even be able to take an uninterrupted nap for once.

On the Shiba front, something's got to give, and unfortunately for Ichigo, he doesn't have experience warding off family unwilling to leave him alone.

"I came here with a friend!" Ichigo snaps, his last-ditch attempt to chase Kaien away. "He's practically family! I'm not leaving him behind!" He'd heard all about the bullshit that was Rukia's adoption into the Kuchiki Clan, thank you. Kaien blinks at him, mystified. "What are you talking about? We just want to add you to the family registry and probably throw you a party while we're at it. You don't have to leave your friend anywhere. Hell, bring him back with you. If he's your family, he's our family, and we have plenty of space!" At this point, Kaien looks like he's warming up to the idea. "That's right, you mentioned you've known him for a while, right? Uh, what's his name again, Coyote Starrk? If he's been watching your back out in Rukongai, I should thank him properly. Is that why you've been resisting all this time? Did you think we'd make you cut ties with him or something? We're not like the other stuffy clans, Ichigo! Any friend of yours is welcome! We'd love to meet him! Hey, how's he doing in his classes? Does he need a sponsor? It doesn't matter, a clan sponsor can only be a good thing. Don't worry, Ichigo, we'll take good care of him!" Ichigo has a moment to picture the sheer amount of chaotic energy that even he can already tell is a common factor amongst the Shiba Clan, meeting Starrk, whose favourite hobbies include napping, creating new Kidou seals, and listening to Kyouraku read to him when they can scrounge up some time for themselves, and the only conclusion he can come to is a horrified, holy shit, Starrk-san's going to kill me.

[scrapsofthought]

"Holding on the way a blood clot clings from finger to finger no matter how you try to shake it free"

[lucaikaruga]

myscrap deactivated.... you will be missed 💔

[junkandstuff]

I posted 4,294 times in 2022

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I tagged 4,290 of my posts in 2022

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Longest Tag: 127 characters

#i am once again asking for a psycho pass sequel starring akane and kogami instead of whatever they tried with the other seasons

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

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18 notes - Posted January 14, 2022

#4

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47 notes - Posted March 27, 2022

#3

Shoutout to all the adult alcoholic characters from high school SoL comedies, absolutely one of my favorite genders

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#2

Hey.

You should watch Gurren Lagann.

It's real good.

218 notes - Posted April 30, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

every day i log on to this website

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[mamaspark]

Foot in for scale. I like to sew a half yard (ish) of fleece into a “pillow case”, then I fill it with all my fabric/batting scraps. When it gets about 3/4 full I sew up the open end. Voila! A new floor pillow and a great way to use my scraps! This is my 3rd pillow. What do you do with your scraps that are too tiny to keep? #myscraps #floorpillow #petbed https://www.instagram.com/p/BvFeBC8ncwy/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1sltv72ae9jxf

[metropoliansuburgatory]

Waiting to be rewritten

(Moral of the poem: I found this after 4 years and I cringed)

I know I must forget her, it’s time to let her go

And I know I will regret her, but time goes so slow

If only I could let go of my pride and cut this pain

I know she might think it’s crazy but love is never sane

If only she wasn’t stubborn and headstrong like me

And release her doubts to see

What we could honestly be

I know we were just meant to pass

And inspire ourselves to go through this mess

But I don’t know why I feel this thing inside

Like she is the only one who can make me feel alright

I know she feels the same way, with soulmates you just do

Oh why did we meet so sudden, why it came out of the blue

I try to put the pieces of the puzzle but the puzzle is not there

Why must it be like this, so strange, so unfair

And I have this vivid dream that’s shell never be happy

And I’ll never be happy with someone else snappy

And we’ll somehow run into each other and look into the eyes

And we’ll understand why weren’t good all those other tries

But I know it’s just a dream, a fantasy washed away

Because I know we will never see each other in the light of day

I know I must forget her, it’s really time to let her go

I know I  am just imagining, surely I must be wrong

But if we ever cross our paths, I promise I’ll rewrite this song.

- A.M.

[scrap-pit]

Should I sell my old car or fix myscrap car at marketplace

If you have taken your car to the workshop on many occasions and it continues to have faults, it is natural that, at some point, you wonder if it is time to dispose of it and buy a new one.

To help you clear those doubts and guide you to make the right decision, the following article has been prepared. Pay close attention.

The vehicle is more than a luxury is a necessity

Today's society demands a very fast pace of life. Constantly moving from one place to another during the day is very common and necessary. In these cases, having your own vehicle is essential.

Having your own vehicle allows people not to be bound by public transport schedules or the frequent costs of taxis.

However, when this vehicle begins to show continuous failures it becomes a problem. Carrying it constantly to the workshop, with the high costs that this represents, is an extremely unpleasant situation.

Much is invested in vehicle repairs. Even so much is the budget invested that if you saved all that money you would have to buy a new vehicle at the end of the year.

The wear and tear of the years is felt, no matter if the vehicle has been repaired and checked by the mechanic a thousand times.

Know whether its time to sell your car to car buying company

Are there disturbances in your daily routine? If there are important changes in your life, such as new members who have joined the family, you have a new job that requires you to travel long distances, you need a smaller or larger car for any reason, then consider purchasing another vehicle.

Even if you do not perceive it that way, an old vehicle can put your safety, that of your family and that of citizens in general at risk. Definitely a car that is more than 10 or 12 years old is not considered safe, therefore, if your car is very old, consider the acquisition of another vehicle.

If your vehicle requires constant repairs and special maintenance, it is time to consider a change. Take out your bills and see how much money you've spent to repair your vehicle. If it is a very high amount, the best thing to do for your savings is to opt for a change.

If your car fits the above criteria, then its time to sell your car to Scrappit Car buying compny. We pay highest price at the current scrap car marketplace.

[cheshiresense]

Starrk time travels with Ichigo to TBTP is everything I never knew I needed! The pain of surviving again, of still being too strong to die- to give up and rest with Shunsui is chef’s kiss beautiful.

I have questions, ideas, thoughts- feel free to ignore any of them lol. First is do you think Hollows/Arrancars have pack instincts/pack bonds. I can imagine the horrible aching emptiness of reaching for friends and family who aren’t there anymore. Pack is forever, should be forever- but now they have to go on looking in the faces of people who loved them once and see nothing in their eyes. No pack bond or instincts that used to link them.

Second is do you think Starrk and Ichigo would eventually start napping together once they settle in a bit more? Starrk might be able to control it now, but I feel like there would be something reassuring about the fact that Ichigo could take it, wouldn’t buckle under the pressure. And then there’s the fact they’re the only ones who know, who understand the weight of it all.

Third is do you have an idea of who you’d ship Ichigo with in this au? I myself am partial to Koyonagi, but I can also see Shinji noticing something off and prowling around like the big cat he pretends he isn’t to investigate. I also imagine that not a few people would assume Starrk and Ichigo are in a relationship lol.

Lastly is I think it would be really interesting if Starrk and Ichigo ended up in the same division, especially since the draw to join the Eighth would be even more tempting. Do you think they’d stick together or try to spread out to be able to investigate/access more.

Thank you, I'm glad you liked it! And I haven't even gotten to the ShunStarrk parts yet but the prospect of it is incentive to write more lmao.

This got a bit long so I'll shove it under the cut:

1) I haven't thought much on this particular aspect of Hollows, although I do see it around a lot, it seems a pretty common headcanon. I def do think they have pack instincts, because even in canon you see Harribel and Grimmjow and others forming "packs" but idk if I'd go all the way to pack bonds. For me it would prob depend on where I want to take that particular fic. In this AU, I imagine Hollows do have pack instincts (again, that's basically canon) and Hollows in general are more sensitive to the reiatsu of pack members, but Starrk's gone so long without them that he's used to the pain of not having anyone. Plus he's like part wolf so I think that makes it worse, but after a thousand years he's probably numb to it. Then of course he got Shunsui for a while, and I imagine he kind of adopted the Fourth as his own and probably a few other Shinigami he'd grown close to, and now all of them are gone. He's in the same situation as Ichigo and grieving that loss, but it prob also feels physically worse for him. He knows what it's like to have pack now, and then he loses them all, and yeah he can sense Shunsui's reiatsu signature halfway across the Seireitei, and half the Fourth is a comfortable bubble at the edge of his awareness, but at the same time, they're not the same and his instincts can tell that too, so it's basically just a constant reminder of everything he no longer has. But he has a thousand years of experience at ignoring this sort of thing, and it's easy to fall back on it, he has to fall back on it because it's not like he can do anything about it anyway. His people, his pack, are gone, and like all the other things he was never able to change over the course of his long life, he can only resign himself to it and shoulder it as best he can.

But Shunsui in particular is a relentless ache in his chest, at the back of his mind, in the pulse of his very reiatsu, like pressure on a bruise on the days he can force himself to ignore it, like a gushing wound when he can't. It's still okay when he's at the Academy and doesn't actually have to see the man. Then Ichigo goes and picks up a stray who just so happens to be Shunsui's family, damn you too Mimihagi may you suffer from carpal tunnel for the rest of eternity, and because his luck has never been what anyone would call good, Starrk's practically expecting it the first time Ichigo awkwardly pesters him into joining their tutoring sessions behind the Eighth Division compound because Ichigo's excellent at Shunpou but he's never quite managed Yoruichi's flawless execution of it, and even before they'd become allies, Starrk's Sonido had been her equivalent, which had seamlessly translated over to Hohou once he'd gained the ability to learn it. Fujiwara's decent enough at it for an Academy student, but still far too slow for Ichigo's liking and also stupidly clumsy and Ichigo can't for the life of him figure out why, so can Starrk please come take a look and see if he can spot the problem or just tell him that there is no problem and all Academy students are just hopeless like this. Starrk wants to say no, but for all that Ichigo gets irritated with his own family for not being able to take no for an answer, the kid himself is actually no better than them, he's just a little more self-conscious about it, but the family resemblance is definitely there beyond just the appearance. Repeatedly refusing would take energy Starrk doesn't have, and he supposes it's nice too to see Ichigo starting to make friends again in this time period, starting to look past his grief. Starrk knows if he really puts his foot down, Ichigo will back off, but he doesn't want to set the kid back in case Ichigo gets the idea to also return to being a perpetual shut-in just because Starrk is, and if that means indulging Ichigo's whims, then so be it. He'd been sent back to serve as babysitter anyway so he may as well do the whole thing properly. And because his luck is just like that, the first time he goes, he finds that Ichigo has already somehow managed to lure his nosy Shiba cousin, his cousin's captain, and the Eighth Division captain Starrk's Shinigami but no he isn't not really not anymore never again to the training grounds even though it's the middle of the afternoon and they should all be at work. At least, judging by the disgruntled expression on Ichigo's face, this hadn't been Ichigo's idea of a good time either. Familiar grey eyes meet his from across the clearing, and for a moment, Starrk is certain someone's ripped his heart out again, leaving only an empty gaping hole in its wake once more, but a thousand times worse than it had ever felt when he'd still been just a Hollow and had never known anything else.

-

2) Honestly Ichigo already spends like 70% of his time in Starrk's room, his own is there just to gather dust and like fake out Kaien cuz the guy either hasn't thought to or at least still has enough manners to refrain from invading Starrk's room too (for now). So like two weeks into the Academy and Ichigo spending five days out of seven crashing on Starrk's floor, Starrk just gives up and goes out to buy an extra futon (and even more pillows because he's a pillow fiend and you can never have too many in his opinion) and Ichigo basically moves in after that. It's definitely comforting for both of them to have the other close by, especially Ichigo because his reikaku abilities are still hit or miss some days. Starrk can relax because his control hasn't been anything less than perfect since his Aizen days but occasionally he still worries about slipping up, except Ichigo is one of the few who can bear the brunt of it so it wouldn't matter even if he does. And Ichigo can relax because he's never really been one for subterfuge, it's actually killing him a little that he can't just bust out his Bankai and either beat Aizen to death or beat some sense into him over the skies of Soul Society like the good old days, but there's nothing he has to hide from Starrk, and Starrk's one of the ones - the only one left now - who's seen Ichigo at his very worst, and likewise it would take a lot of conscious effort on his part to actually hurt Starrk. Lashing out in the midst of a nightmare would wake Starrk but otherwise wouldn't even make him blink.

They can lower their guard around each other in a way they can't anywhere else outside of their room, and with Starrk's habit of carpeting most of the floor with soft things to sleep on, it's only natural to go to sleep next to each other and wake up - in the middle of the night or in the early morning when dawn hasn't even broken yet because it's easier to stare at the ceiling than spend another minute dreaming of faces they'll never truly see again - the same way. Neither of them really moves much when unconscious, and their instincts mark each other as safe, so these days, they sleep best in each other's company.

(This aches too though, sometimes, even though Starrk won't ever voice such a thing out loud. But sleeping with someone else beside him, even when they don't touch beyond an accidental brush of shoulders or a nightmare-fueled flail of a limb digging into his gut, reminds him of another warm body he'd spent close to a decade sleeping beside, half-draped over him or plastered against his back or letting him curl around them in return. It's another thing he'll never have again, but that's hardly Ichigo's fault, and he knows the kid doesn't do well alone either - who in this world does? - so Starrk's hardly going to say anything that would definitely chase Ichigo away because the kid's stupid like that. He locks the sense-memories behind his teeth instead, even when it keeps him up all night or wakes him in the morning just to make him feel like shit all over again when he remembers where and when he is. And it's not always bad. In this era, Ichigo is the only truly familiar thing that doesn't make Starrk's instincts bristle, which means he can sleep more deeply than he would allow himself anywhere else, and that's a comfort in and of itself.)

-

3) This I actually don't know, even in SP I don't really have a ship for Ichigo. But ship candidates are a dime a dozen for him lol. Kisuke's always my go-to for him but I guess he hasn't really been that prominent, although I can def steer things that way. I've written a few KoyoIchi so that's def also a possibility. Shinji is equally likely, and if they could give past!Aizen future!Aizen's memories, I could even pull off AiIchi, although if they could do that, I'd just do the same with Shunsui and then we would have less angst lmao. And it might be weird but I'm not opposed to Ichigo/Asuka but in a platonic neither of us are interested in other ppl and don't want to be bothered by marriage offers so let's just get engaged and it'll even be good for clan politics close friends sort of way. They might develop feelings for each other sometime down the road, but arranged marriage AU would be how it would start (this is actually a wip idea I've had for a long time that I've just never written). Also I just feel like Starrk would be vaguely amused by how they both got attached to Kyourakus (or Kyouraku-adjacent I guess), like what is it about that family 😂 But yeah nothing really concrete yet. Ppl might assume that Starrk and Ichigo are a thing because Ichigo doesn't hang out with anyone else at first, and Starrk basically only leaves school grounds to accompany Ichigo somewhere, but I imagine that would clear up after like thirty minutes of watching them interact, esp once Rangiku and Asuka and Gin are more permanent fixtures in their group and Starrk's just trailing after them like a long-suffering dad, the generational gap would be pretty obvious.

-

4) Oh man I've definitely thought about this. So unlike SP where Ichigo's like It Is My Duty To Go To The Fifth Just To Keep An Eye On Aizen's Shenanigans Even If That Means Self-Inflicted Emotional Torture The Entire Time, Starrk puts a stop to that nonsense in this AU. He doesn't actually care where Ichigo wants to go, Ichigo can take care of himself even if Aizen breaks cover and goes all traitor on them a hundred years early, and he's not here to tell the kid what to do anyway, but when Ichigo's waffling between the Eighth or the Fifth, and it becomes pretty fucking clear that he only wants to go to the Fifth because he thinks he has to, because there's no other way to keep track of Aizen, and he starts getting tunnel vision the way he does when he's brooding and obsessing over protecting people, that's when Starrk steps in.

"It's one thing if you want to go because you want to," Starrk says, watching the kid pace their room like a caged tiger. "But I don't think you do, not with the way you behave around Hirako. Besides, are you even going to be able to get anything done when you'll be constantly stressed out by being so close to Aizen?" He pauses, then adds with a ghost of a smile, "And then there's the fact that you're a really bad liar."

Ichigo swings around to splutter indignantly at him. "I am not! I can lie!"

Starrk shrugs. "Good enough to fool Hirako and Aizen when they'll be right there observing you up close every single day?"

Ichigo opens his mouth, then closes it again. Good, at least he's self-aware.

Starrk lets him think it over for a moment, tracking the conflicted shift of emotions across Ichigo's face - and he wants to play spy in front of the likes of Aizen like this? - before continuing quietly, "This is it, you know."

Ichigo blinks at him, thrown by the non-sequitur.

Starrk sighs and leans back against the windowsill at his back, slanting his gaze to the sky outside, winter-pale but clear. "What we're doing--it isn't a job with an end date. We don't get to go back home once we're done. There's no home to go back to."

In his peripheral, Ichigo is suddenly very still.

"This is it," Starrk repeats without taking his eyes off the distant horizon. "And you gain nothing from focusing all your energy on one man who won't even be showing his hand anytime soon. If anything, finding out you're suspicious of him will only move up his timeline or cause him to do something drastic, and then we might not be able to predict him at all. And that's not even getting into what the Quincy might do if you show your hand too soon, with or without their king. But even that's beside the point."

He turns back to Ichigo, taking in the weary grief in the furrow of his brow and the bitter curve of his mouth, and he knows Ichigo already understands. Still, he finishes as gently as he knows how, "This is where we live now, and maybe it isn't home yet, but maybe it's time to start thinking about what it will take to make it one. How do you want to live, Ichigo? Once everything is over, what kind of life will you have built for yourself by then? Or will you let Aizen dictate that too?"

A minute flinch ripples across Ichigo's shoulders. Starrk presses on, as ruthless as he'd learned from Aizen, from Shunsui even more. "Will you let him hound you all the way to your final grave? Or will you let Yhwach do it again? Your mother died to save you. Your friends died protecting you. Is their love for you only worth yet another suicide run at a bunch of madmen and would-be-gods? Do you think that this was all you were worth to them?"

Ichigo flinches again, and for a split second, his expression scrunches like he wants to take a swing at Starrk.

Starrk waits him out, because Ichigo isn't an idiot, but sometimes, it's like he just can't understand certain things without them being spelled out for him. And some things, Starrk thinks, should be heard, should be said.

He wonders if anyone's ever told this kid that he's allowed to live for himself too.

(He also wonders how much of a hypocrite every word coming out of his mouth right now is going to make him in the future.

But it's different, with Ichigo. Starrk is over a thousand years old. At this point, going to his grave isn't a big deal. But Ichigo hasn't even reached three decades, and he's spent a solid ten of those years on one battlefield or another. If one of them has to die at the end of all this, it definitely shouldn't be Ichigo.

This kid needs to learn how to live. There's no time like the present to start, and if that means Starrk has to hit where it hurts, well, infections must be lanced sooner or later.)

At last, Ichigo's shoulders slump, and he deflates like a balloon, anger and hurt deserting him, leaving only exhaustion in their wake.

"Sometimes, you sound so much like Kyouraku-san it's scary," Ichigo informs him, flopping bonelessly onto a nearby pile of pillows.

Starrk says nothing. If that had been meant to hurt, well, he probably deserves it.

"Aizen does need to be watched," Ichigo persists, but he sounds almost relieved at the possibility that he won't have to be the one to do it.

Starrk grunts dismissively. "I can sense him from here. I know when he's in his office, and when he leaves a double and takes off for Rukongai. I think that's enough for now."

Ichigo's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "His hypnosis isn't affecting you?"

Starrk tips a glance at him. "The soul remembers. It doesn't affect you either, does it?"

"That's true," Ichigo concedes. "But wait, did he never show you his Shikai? Or you touched his blade somehow?"

"My reiatsu ate it," Starrk summarizes succinctly, then clarifies with a flicker of exasperation at the wide-eyed look he gets, "His hypnosis, not his blade. He never put much effort into hypnotizing the Espada, just enough to make sure we'd obey without too much fuss. And when it comes down to it, even Zanpakutou abilities is just reiatsu cast in a specific shape. It was easy enough to get rid of it after I was whole again."

He thinks of Lilynette and breathes through that particular ache, old now, more scar than open wound, but there all the same.

Ichigo makes a comprehending sound. "That's pretty handy. Can your reiatsu eat it if it's cast on someone else?"

Starrk nods. He'd done as much for Shunsui, and a few others as necessary. Aizen had never been able to affect the Captain-Commander again after he'd been let out of Muken. And for all that they'd been nominally on the same side, Aizen had actually tried a few times. Starrk thinks he'd probably just wanted to see if he could, because after each attempt, he'd turn and look at Starrk with something like amusement and something like contempt.

(Once, he'd remarked in private that Starrk certainly had a preference for kneeling at the feet of Shinigami masters, and he'd asked what made Shunsui the better one to serve, if perhaps he also should've forced Starrk to spread his legs for him, if that would've succeeded in breaking Starrk further, in making him even more eager to please, as much as Shunsui had clearly accomplished with him.

Shunsui had overheard. On hindsight, Starrk's fairly certain Aizen had wanted him to, had waited for him to get close enough to hear everything, though for what purpose even Starrk hadn't been able to figure out, because the resulting confrontation hadn't been pretty. It'd been one of the few times Starrk had seen his Shinigami lose his temper, his wrath a silent deadly creature no one would expect, and in that moment, the shadows around them had almost devoured Aizen whole. They'd certainly left their mark in the aftermath, Aizen's flesh cracked open with scars as black as the void. Even then, Starrk doesn't think Aizen had truly been intimidated, but he'd also never said another word of the sort to Starrk ever again.)

"I'd have to get closer to detect his more intricate workings," Starrk admits. "But I think between that and being able to sense him, it's enough of a safeguard without needing to join the Fifth as well. There isn't much of a point to that anyway. It's not like we don't already have a general idea of what he's doing, or where he's doing it. He isn't the sort to leave evidence lying around either so I doubt you'd be able to gather any."

He glances at Ichigo again, finally letting himself relax when he sees the kid nodding along, albeit with a rather grumpy expression.

"For now," Starrk concludes. "It's best to establish our presence here in this time, make connections, make allies, and eventually make sure we have enough people on our side to tip the scales in our favour. Aizen is one thing, but even the two of us can't take down the entire Wandenreich on our own. When the time comes, there must be people willing to believe us even without concrete proof of the Quincy's existence."

He catches Ichigo's eye, intent to get this point across, if nothing else. "No matter how powerful, there is only so much one can do alone. And you are not alone, Ichigo."

Ichigo's face crumples a little, and for a half a heartbeat, Starrk is terrified he's about to cry. Thankfully, that doesn't happen, and a moment later, Ichigo nods, his eyes a little brighter now, his shoulders a little less weighed down.

"Okay," Ichigo says decisively. "Then… I think I want to go to the Eighth." He smiles a bit wryly. "You're both bastards, but somehow, I like that about you guys. And if it's Kyouraku-san, it wouldn't be hard to work under his command."

He stops and grows more solemn, his gaze a little too sympathetic this time. "Will you join the Eighth too?"

"No," Starrk doesn't hesitate. He's already thought about it, had already made up his mind months ago, even before he'd met Shunsui again. His answer had only cemented further after meeting him. Besides, "I'm going to the Fourth."

He thinks of the agreement he'd hashed out with Mimihagi. He thinks of one of the things that had immediately come to mind when time travel of all things had been proposed to him. He thinks of the things he can do, the things he can create.

He thinks of the life he'd bargained for.

"Back in our time," Starrk only says in the end, meeting Ichigo's gaze calmly. "I was told by everyone who knew her that Unohana-taichou was the best healer in living memory. Now she is alive again, so that's what I want. I want to learn from her."

Ichigo snickers, oblivious. "Well, you are a huge medical nerd so I should've known. So long as you're happy I guess. Try not to take over the division again within the year. I wouldn't bet on your odds against Unohana-san."

Starrk rolls his eyes because honestly Kotetsu had practically gift-wrapped her division for him, he hadn't meant to take over, he hadn't even been a halfway respectable healer at the time, he'd just been strong, with the manpower to support the actual healers, and apparently, that'd been enough. He'd been horrified when Shunsui had sided with them.

Ichigo laughs outright, Starrk shakes his head, and with their choices made, the future begins to take shape once more.

[catathyst]

Fun fact, way before Future even ended, one of myscrapped Au’s partners in crime, Steven does actually heal the gems the say way he healed jasper

AU where Steven heals the gems in the cluster.

[cheshiresense]

[From Here]

Dithered over which pov to write next, figured I’d try Yuzu.

-0-

When Yuzu gets a phone call from Ichigo that they would be having two guests for dinner tonight, she is delighted. In all the years she’s known him, her brother has only ever introduced one person to them as something of a friend. Mizuiro is half a sibling at this point, trusted enough to be around them even when Ichigo isn’t, but before him, and after him, nobody else has ever caught Ichigo’s eye enough to warrant an actual invitation to dine with their family.

“They’re related to ghost stuff,” Ichigo adds bluntly, and Yuzu understands that to mean that these two will at least be tougher than the average yakuza on the street, even if they can’t match up to her brother.

“I understand!” She chirps back cheerfully. “I’ll let Karin know. I can’t wait to meet them!”

Then she hangs up, rolls up her sleeves, and gets to work in the kitchen. No guests of her brother’s will ever accuse them of being ungracious hosts on her watch.

(Karin comes home from soccer practice half an hour later. She laughs, as Yuzu does, when Yuzu tells her of their impending guests.)

-0-

Two hours later, Yuzu is putting the finishing touches on the meal when the sound of the door being unlocked carries through the apartment.

"Welcome home, Onii-chan!" She calls out, plating the last dish before carrying it over to the dining table. "Dinner's ready!"

She can hear Karin leaving their bedroom and coming down the hall on deliberately heavy footsteps. She appears just as Ichigo comes in from the front, Mizuiro a step behind him, with two men bringing up the rear, vaguely middle-aged at first glance, younger at the second, and then just ageless the more you stare.

They're tall, is Yuzu's first thought, but everybody's tall from her perspective. Still, they're taller than Ichigo, especially the one in the very back, and bigger too, even if they've got that same elegant dancer's gait her brother walks with, the one that whispers danger in the hindbrain even to those who don't know what to look for. They're also both blond, one darker than the other, but both with hair that nearly reach their shoulders. One wears modern clothing, the other more traditional, and one is empty-handed while the other carries a cane, but both of them take in the whole room in one calculating sweep that misses nothing. And they're both already smiling politely as they walk in, one with a harmless playful edge, the other with a harmless mysterious air, but both as fake as each other.

Yuzu exchanges a glance with Karin just to check she's not seeing things. Karin gives her the eyebrows that means she's noticed too.

Mizuiro had given off a far less dangerous aura when Ichigo had first brought him home. And he still feels much less threatening than these men now, no matter how much Guest One and Guest Two are probably trying to play it down. But back then, Mizuiro had also come in with sharp eyes and a guileless skin-deep smile, and that at least is exactly the same.

Their big brother sure does have a type. Yuzu sometimes wonders if Ichigo goes out and picks the most suspicious and unsettling people he can find to entertain him, or if he just somehow attracts them with his innate charm.

"My sisters, Karin, and Yuzu," Ichigo introduces without suspense, then jabs a thumb at Mizuiro. "And Mizuiro lives next door but he eats with us when we're here."

Then he gestures at the two men. "This is Hirako Shinji and Urahara Kisuke." He pauses for a brief half-second, and his eyes flash gold in Yuzu's, and Karin's, direction. "Hirako's a bit like me." He pauses again, and a funny half-smile hitches at one corner of his mouth. "They both are actually."

He says nothing else, so Yuzu takes that as her cue to sketch a neat half-bow paired with a bright smile. "Hello! It's nice to meet you!"

Beside her, Karin parrots the motion, if in a more perfunctory manner, but they weren't raised in a cave, so they know how to be courteous.

The men murmur back their own greetings even as their gazes shift back and forth between them and their brother like they're trying to pick up on a second unspoken conversation, but it's not as if there's anything for them to hear either way.

It's just that the introduction was short, names and little else, so Yuzu knows that they're equally untrustworthy, which makes sense because Ichigo couldn't have known them for more than a week or two. But the little else he'd tacked on had been a sign as well— not just that they're like him in some ways, in different ways, but also that Ichigo likes Hirako more than Urahara. Nevertheless, the fact that he'd brought them here at all means that they're interesting enough to make them both tolerable.

Yuzu understands, as does Karin, but they give no indication of it as everyone shuffles around to wash their hands, and Yuzu quickly scoops out a bowl of rice each for everyone in attendance.

"Onii-chan never invites anybody over, so I made a lot of extra food today," Yuzu tells them happily. "Please eat as much as you want!"

"Everythin' looks delicious," The darker blond, Hirako, grins at her, and this time, the expression seems more genuine. At the very least, it gives her a warmer feeling than the other blond, Urahara, who also smiles and trills agreement but radiates more distance than an overseas phone call.

Everyone settles around the dining table, although Mizuiro spares a moment to pull an exaggerated moue of aggrievement. "Never invites anybody over? Have I been forgotten, Yuzu-chan?"

Karin rolls her eyes while Yuzu giggles merrily. "You don't count, Mizuiro-nii-chan. You already eat with us almost every day anyway."

Mizuiro drops the act in favour of a smirk, though he looks pleased too, to be counted as family, as if the novelty of it still hasn't worn off. To be fair, it had taken a whole six months before Ichigo had been willing to leave him in the same vicinity as Yuzu and Karin on their own, and Yuzu knows that being trusted like that by her brother is no small feat.

Conversation drops as everybody begins digging in, and Yuzu lets her gaze drift casually over to their guests as they too pick up their bowls and chopsticks.

It's Urahara she lingers on first because he's the one who lifts his bowl to his mouth, only to stop at the last second, chopsticks poised. His expression doesn't really change, and the lapse only lasts a fraction of a second before he's moving again, smoothly pretending to eat a mouthful before lowering his bowl again, chewing and swallowing thin air masterfully. Even Yuzu only spots it because she's been watching the whole time from behind lowered eyelashes as she grabs some eggplant from one of the vegetable dishes.

She lets her gaze drop completely when she feels the man's eyes move from the food to her and then to Ichigo. Still, she can't quite suppress a pout, although she supposes she can't be too disappointed either since Hirako at least eats a good five bites of his rice before suddenly stiffening, glancing down sharply even as his eyes flicker with the same burnished gold colour that her brother possesses.

Then he looks up, looks at Urahara, looks at her, looks long at Ichigo, and then-

-he laughs. It's a bark of one that echoes with a snarl, except the mirth in it is also entirely genuine, enough for Yuzu to glance up with startled eyes. But the rest of the table does as well, so at least she doesn't stand out. Of course, that doesn't prevent Hirako from grinning at her, all teeth, with a bite that would feel like claws at her throat if not for the fact that it's coloured by something even warmer than when he'd complimented her spread. Appreciation, maybe.

"Is it the rice?" He muses candidly, and then actually eats another bite. "Nah, can't be, it was from the same cooker. It's the bowl, right? Not bad, I can't smell or taste anythin'."

Yuzu blinks and shares another look with Karin, who looks largely bored by the proceedings and hasn't stopped eating. Soccer practice always makes her hungry. But she also shrugs in agreement that Hirako is being sincere, so Yuzu relaxes and looks at her brother next.

Ichigo also hasn't stopped eating, although he isn't shovelling food into his mouth as speedily as Karin is. He swallows, glances leisurely at their guests, then looks back at her. "Not bad. Nothing in the food though?"

Yuzu frowns. "It's the first time you've invited them over, Onii-chan. I didn't want to scare them off."

Also, they're tolerable, and Ichigo even likes one of them, so she'd chosen the mildly poisoned bowls over the severely poisoned ones.

Ichigo just looks amused. "They don't scare easily."

Yuzu pouts again before glancing at their two guests, who are both watching them openly now. Hirako still looks like he's just heard a grand joke, while Urahara seems more than a little bemused, but neither of them feels angry.

Her big brother really is an excellent judge of character.

"You really didn't notice anything at all?" Yuzu asks in earnest, peering at Hirako before squinting at Urahara. "Then how come he did? And did you already shake the poison off?"

Hirako snorts and reaches for the communal chopsticks to swipe another chicken wing. "My... constitution's pretty good at negatin' toxins. And Kisuke's trained for this sort of thing."

Trained? Yuzu stares wide-eyed at Urahara long enough for the man to stop exuding caution and start manifesting awkwardness, which isn't what she wants so she hastily blurts out, "Are you really? So you can identify any poison? But the one I made is an original, so you shouldn't have come across it before."

Urahara stares back at her for a long blank-faced moment, not even bothering to stitch on a smile anymore, and like this, he matches the flat undercurrent of his emotions much better, like ice over water, except the water is the ocean and you don't know how deep it goes or what's waiting underneath.

"Ah," The man finally says, lifting a hand to his hat for a moment and pressing down on it so that his eyes are hidden. Then he looks up again and eyes her like he's seeing her for the first time and is pleasantly surprised by what he's found. "I may not know the exact poison, but I could still tell there was something off. Also, it's plant-based, isn't it?"

He pauses, and then, just like Hirako, he picks up his rice bowl again and swallows a decent mouthful, chewing almost thoughtfully beforehand. "And refined with reiatsu. That's actually more difficult to hide from me. Your technique is clumsy too. Give me an hour and I could probably also tell you the strains you crossed to make it. For now, at the very least, I can say there's definitely wisteria in this."

Yuzu is rendered speechless for a full five seconds. And then she snaps out of it and rounds on her brother with the best puppy eyes in her arsenal. She knows they don't actually work, but Ichigo tends to give in to her when she pulls them out anyway because it means she really wants something. "Onii-chan, you'll invite them back again, won't you? Urahara-san is amazing! I could learn so much if he teaches me!"

Ichigo's eyebrows go up for a moment in a way that speaks of indulgence, but he also glances lazily at Urahara before going back to his food. "Ask him yourself."

Yuzu pulls up short, always slightly stunned whenever her brother refuses her, even when it's not a direct refusal. But generally speaking, if she or Karin wants something enough to ask for it, Ichigo has always been the sort to simply make it happen for them. The only times he's ever refused is when he'd thought it too unnecessary - Karin really shouldn't have asked for a flamethrower for her birthday, it's unwieldy and she can't hide it in her backpack, plus they know how to make Molotov cocktails already anyway, which is almost the same thing - or when he'd considered it important for them to get what they want on their own, usually because it would make for a useful life skill in the future.

Never has it been because of a person.

But for the first time ever, this situation seems to have fallen into that exact category, which... She looks back at Urahara with more curiosity than before. For someone Ichigo only finds tolerable, something about this man has... impressed him? Is that what's going on here? Not even Mizuiro has ever succeeded in that before, so for once, Yuzu has no precedent to draw from.

Well, that doesn't matter right now. The important thing is that Urahara will probably remain in her big brother's life for some time to come, which means-

"Urahara-san!" She shoots to her feet, chair clattering back with the force of it as she bows. "Please teach me more about poisons! It's okay if it's just a little bit, whenever you have time. I promise I'll work hard! And of course, I can pay for the lessons!"

She does some mental tallying. There's a bake sale coming up for her club, and the venue they've chosen is close enough to the Karakura border to attract people from the neighbouring town. If she plays her cards right, some thugs from nearby yakuza groups probably wouldn't mind donating to her cause. Pretty little girls offering pretty little cakes are bound to reel in at least a few idiots.

Of course, she'll have to ask Ichigo to get rid of them afterwards. It's better not to risk putting anything too lethal into a school bake sale, just in case of an accident, so she'll have to stick with upset stomachs at most. Once they've paid up, Ichigo can make them disappear. Those upset stomachs can get really gross, and blood and guts aren't much better if cleanup gets messy, so Yuzu would rather not deal with that part.

Unlike her siblings who don't mind it, Yuzu is unfortunately something of a clean freak. Karin always taunts her about having inherited their father's delicate constitution, and Yuzu can't even refute it, no matter how insulted she feels. It's seriously unfair because she can gut a fish in the kitchen no problem, but human intestines make her gag.

"I-" Urahara starts, jolting her out of her thoughts. The man looks taken aback all over again, and like he's missed a step somewhere. He even feels a bit nervous as he whips out a paper fan of all things, one that hides half his face from view. His gaze bounces between her and her brother, emitting enough anxious vibes that Yuzu suddenly wants to give him an emotional support dog or something. "I'm not sure I would be the... best choice for this sort of thing, Kurosaki-san."

Yuzu is unsure who he's talking to, but just in case it's her, she rearranges her face into the most kicked puppy look of disappointment she's capable of. "Why not? You know your poisons, and it looks like it'll be hard for me to kill you. Onii-chan can only teach me so much, it's not really his area, so I've only been able to trial-and-error it for months now. But I'm a quick learner, and I swear I'll listen to anything you're willing to teach me. Or, is it the money? Just name your price."

Even if she can't come up with it all on her own, she's certain Ichigo will help pay the rest. Honestly, even if it's within her budget, he'll just pour the same amount she shells out back into her bank account. The only reason they have to go in a big circle like this is because Ichigo wants them to learn how to handle money responsibly.

"That's not-" Urahara stops again, then snaps his fan shut, and then all of a sudden, it's like a wall comes up, and everything about him shuts down. He straightens, features as unreadable as the rest of him, and then he turns to Ichigo so that it's unmistakeable who he's talking to this time. "Kurosaki-san, is this really alright?"

Ichigo's basically finished eating at this point. Karin gets up for another bowl of rice. Mizuiro watches them like he's binging one of his romance dramas. And Hirako has his head propped up against one loose fist, eyes half-lidded but intent.

In response, Ichigo only shrugs. "I mean, you can say no. But like she said, I can't teach her much more than I already have, and it's not like she's gonna find a better teacher than you at this point, right?"

"And where did you learn it from?" Urahara asks, grey eyes riveted on Ichigo with the sort of focus that feels like he might've forgotten anyone else even exists.

Ichigo actually quirks a smile, sardonically amused. "Same place I learned everything else."

He doesn't expand on it, keeping the conversation on track instead, much to Yuzu's delight. "Anyway, if you're asking for permission, obviously it's a yes. I wouldn't have let her ask in the first place if I wasn't okay with it. And she's smart. You could do worse for a part-time student."

Urahara remains motionless and unblinking for another few seconds. "...Was this why you invited us for dinner?"

Ichigo shrugs again. "Not really. It's not like I knew you knew poisons. I just thought my sisters should meet you, that's all."

"And why's that?" Hirako interjects, also watching Ichigo with gleaming eyes that never waver. "Cuz ya don't seem the type to let jus' anyone get close to your nearest and dearest."

Ichigo turns to him, and his eyes are fond in a way they very rarely are when aimed at anyone not Yuzu or Karin or Mizuiro. It's not quite on the same level, but it does make it even more obvious that Hirako has her brother's favour.

"I thought it'd be good if they knew a few Shinigami," Ichigo says offhandedly, although judging by the slight stir of surprise from both guests, they hadn't expected he would just come out and say it. Or perhaps they're surprised he's talking about it in front of Yuzu and Karin and Mizuiro? But they're family. Yuzu doesn't know everything about Ichigo, but that's just because she doesn't want to know that much about her brother's life, not because Ichigo wouldn't tell her if she or Karin asks.

"You seem like you might bring trouble to my doorstep one day," Ichigo says, somewhat out of the blue, and all at once, Urahara tugs at his hat again just as Yuzu gets a sense of shifty-eyed discomfort all but waving support lights over the man's head. Hirako sort of feels the same, but in a less... personal way.

So whatever's going on, Urahara's probably the one in charge.

Ichigo seems to sense it too, or he's long guessed it considering his not great feelings for Urahara. Either way, he scoffs, and the light in his eyes says he's annoyed, but not annoyed enough to do something permanent about it. Yet. "Yeah, that's what I thought. So I figured it's better for you to know who you should do your very best to protect if shit goes down around them, because otherwise, I might not even feel like hearing you out. Understand?"

Hirako glances at Yuzu, at Karin, even at Mizuiro, then he turns back to Ichigo, solemn in a way Yuzu hasn't seen since they met, "I understand."

It sounds like a promise.

Ichigo hums, satisfied. Neither of them prods at Urahara for an answer, and Urahara doesn't give one. He feels flat again, like a scrap of paper.

"So like I said," Ichigo continues briskly. "If you wanna teach her, knock yourself out. You can send me the bill."

Yuzu beams at him. Looks like she won't have to waste any cakes.

From his seat, Urahara heaves a sigh, and now he just seems tired and still a bit baffled, but he also finally looks at her again like he's assessing her potential. Yuzu straightens and adopts her best imploring face.

This of all things makes Urahara's mouth twitch, and he even feels amused, except it's the sort of amusement that's all wrapped up in razor-wire mockery. That bit doesn't show on his face of course. Still, Yuzu's fingers suddenly itch with the urge to swap out his bowl with the other one after all.

"So clumsy," The man muses, one finger tapping at the cane leaning against his chair. "...Very well, I suppose I may have a few things I can impart to a budding... chemistry enthusiast. On one condition however. And I don't want money."

He looks at Ichigo again, except he doesn't say anything. Ichigo seems to understand anyway because a grin pulls at his lips, a touch too savage to fit on a human face, and aimed at anyone else, Yuzu knows they wouldn't even have time to pick out a coffin.

Urahara seems to be an exception. It makes Yuzu wonder if he's just that strong, certain in his ability to forever remain stronger than her brother, or if he's simply gambling with his life, and it's Ichigo instead who's decided to be uncharacteristically patient.

She hopes it's not the former, because she has no faith in anyone who thinks themselves capable of staying ahead of her brother forever. But if it's the latter, then maybe she'll have enough time to wheedle out everything Urahara knows of poisons before Ichigo snaps and kills him.

"That seems a bit unbalanced," Ichigo remarks.

Urahara inclines his head, and this time, his voice rings of the same vow that had reverberated in Hirako's earlier. "Upon my blade, my life before your family's, should the worst come to pass."

Ichigo laughs, soft and without humour. "This trouble must be something else. That, or you don’t think your life’s worth all that much. But fine. We'll hash it out tomorrow. Keep your word, and I might even go along with whatever you and your people have been cooking up. But Yuzu gets to bug you for lessons any day of the week from now on."

And once again, between one breath and the next, Urahara trades the gravity for the false affability from before.

It's like watching a performance, Yuzu thinks.

She glances at her brother and watches him watch Urahara, still annoyed, still a bit like he could put a knife through the other's ribs if it wouldn't mean the hassle of mopping blood off the floor.

Ichigo likes Hirako. Yuzu does too, even though they just met not even half an hour ago. There's something about him that makes him approachable and friendly despite the very obvious beast lurking beneath his skin. But that too might be part of the charm because Yuzu's long used to the same thing from her brother. Knowing even just that much, it's not a shock that Ichigo has clicked with him - a fellow monster - in a way he never has even with Mizuiro.

But Urahara is different. Urahara is treated with tolerance only, with irritation and discontent and even derision, on and off. But Yuzu knows that her brother has killed people for a whole lot less than that, and yet here Urahara sits at their family's table while Ichigo looks at him from time to time, tolerant and irritated and discontent and derisive, and he can't stop looking.

She wonders if even her brother is aware of what he's doing.

"I'll leave my number," The man offers, complete with a genial smile. "And you may stop by my shop anytime. Allow me a few days, and I shall have some reading material organized for you."

Yuzu perks up, nods, and finally sits back down, then gets up again to fetch two extra bowls of rice, this time clean of any poison. Hirako snickers but accepts his with a nod. Urahara does the same, with that same winning smile, and then dinner restarts, this time uninterrupted.

Well, who cares if Ichigo is aware or not? He’ll figure it out sooner or later. And besides, it’s all the same in the end— people who push her brother too far will face the consequences, and those who don't will not. That's just the simple truth of it.

But in the meantime, Urahara at least won't be going anywhere, which means Yuzu can finally get some guidance for one of her favourite hobbies, and honestly, that's all she really cares about.

[cheshiresense]

[Last Part]

Can't have a Yuzu POV without a Karin POV lol~

-0-

Karin makes it back before curfew with fifteen minutes to spare. Their brother had extended hers and Yuzu's curfew to 10pm since they'd hit their double-digits, and she's always been mindful to never break it. Yuzu isn't usually one to stay out late, but Karin likes her freedom to wander around without supervision enough that she isn't going to risk a grounding just because she couldn't be bothered to check the time. Besides, she knows kids her age don't get half as much trust or leeway from their guardians, so Karin isn't going to disappoint Ichigo's expectations by not following the few rules he'd set for them.

Not to mention she has exactly zero faith in her own ability - or honestly anyone else's - to slip under her brother's radar anyway. Only an idiot would think they could, and Kurosaki Karin wasn't raised a fool. Sneaking in late isn't even worth considering.

So she's back by 9:45 sharp, and she unlocks the apartment door to reveal a scene in the sitting room that's not entirely unfamiliar ever since dinner last Tuesday.

"Shoes," is Ichigo's greeting, and Karin immediately rallies.

"I rinsed them!" She insists defensively. "Thoroughly!"

She had. Karasu River, specifically that spot where their mother had died so everyone's avoided it ever since like they might get cursed if they stray too close, is a great place to get rid of evidence.

"And now you're thoroughly tracking water through the door," Ichigo points out dryly, which, oh yeah, she is, whoops.

Karin makes a vaguely sheepish face before quickly toeing out of her sneakers and leaving them outside to dry instead. Just her luck that Yuzu dropped a vial of her newest poison yesterday and burned a hole straight through the entryway doormat, and they haven't had a chance to replace it yet.

She shuts the door, drops her duffel bag against one wall, and ambles over to her brother for a hug and a cup of tea from the fresh pot on the kotatsu. Or rather, Ichigo goes about pouring her one while she slumps into his side with a content, if tired, sigh.

Ichi-nii has never really been one for hugs, even when she and Yuzu had been smaller, and that's no different now. Occasionally, on a birthday or new year or when - very rarely - something had made them cry, he'd dole one out to each of them, stiff and a little awkward, but genuine in a way Karin knows he'd had to learn just for them, and that alone had made it precious. Besides, he's never refused their hugs when they take the initiative to go in for one, and Karin knows full well that anyone else would be thrown across the room or tossed out a window, Mizuiro included, so that's just as good even if Ichigo doesn't often return them.

She leans against him now, and he endures it stoically, handing her tea and also casting a surreptitious eye over her for any signs of injury. There are none of course— Karin's been learning how to protect herself ever since her brother had become the undisputed head of the household, even if Isshin still remains determinedly blind to anything related to his son to this day. And on top of that, Ichigo's long since ensured their safety from most lesser predators in this town, so it's not as if they have anything to worry about.

Of course, there are still morons who slip through Ichigo's iron-fisted oversight - or rather, are allowed to slip through - either because they're new to Karakura or they're lured in from a neighbouring town, all of them deemed harmless enough prey for Karin and Yuzu to play with. They make for wonderful test subjects for Yuzu when she's getting creative again, and very convenient outlets for Karin whenever soccer and karate aren't enough to siphon off her excess energy. Unlike Yuzu, Karin really isn't made to sit still or stay indoors all day.

She blinks when Ichigo jostles her out of her thoughts with a nudge and a succinct reminder, "Greet."

Karin's pretty sure there's some kind of What Manners And Social Norms To Teach Your Kids So They Can Fit Into Society self-help book squirrelled away in Ichi-nii's room somewhere. Possibly even a series. Of course, her brother certainly doesn’t follow his own lessons on conduct, but this is one of those things that Ichigo has always implicitly expressed his preference for her and Yuzu to ‘do as I say, not as I do'.

So Karin can only swallow a forbearing grumble along with her tea before nodding curtly across the table, "Good evening, Hirako-san, Urahara-san."

Ichigo's already turned back to some papers in front of him, because bright side— her brother's number of fucks to give begins and ends with the most perfunctory of civilities, so at least Karin doesn't have to waste time on small talk. Yuzu, her crazier half, is the only one of them who actually enjoys that stuff. Karin sometimes can't believe they're related.

"Brat," is Hirako's response, and his voice says amusement but his eyes say caution. Well, amused caution, but Hirako seems to find almost everything a little funny, and it's not even some weird bravado because his reiatsu manifestation is constantly a glittering field of yellow-gold-blue that takes the form of a sunny beach. Usually.

On the other hand— "Good evening, Kurosaki-san," Urahara returns, perfectly polite, with a perfectly pleasant if distracted smile, perfectly suited for someone who's genuinely glad to see an acquaintance's sister home safe. Except his reiatsu manifestation is a fucking ocean of blood, deep and dark and completely still on the surface no matter what he says or does. The only times Karin's seen even just a ripple in it is when Ichigo is talking. Her brother at least seems to have a knack for taking Urahara off-guard. Nobody else though, and the external mimicry of human reactions - no matter how expertly crafted - doesn't impress Karin one bit when she can see the disconnect between his insides and outsides.

So she snorts and goes back to ignoring them both. Since the dinner last week, these two have come back a couple more times, mostly meeting with Ichigo for something or other, probably a ghost-related problem, with Urahara also dropping off a stack of books and scrolls for Yuzu, and they seem like they'll be sticking around for a while. But until Ichigo tells her that they're going to be part of the family, like Mizuiro, Karin's not going to waste her time on getting to know them. Honestly, just by dint of being people, and worse, troublesome ones, means that they're more likely to get themselves offed at the business end of Ichigo's swords than anything else.

"Ichi-nii," She says instead. "I have another away game on Friday. Can you sign me out of class?"

Ichigo makes a noise in the affirmative. "Leave the form on the kitchen table before you go to bed. Is it in Naruki City again?"

"Yeah," Karin makes a face. "Back-to-back matches against Hiromasa. Dunno why they even bother when they're not serious about it anyway. And they're so annoying. We always kick their asses but they still look down on us cuz I'm a regular on the team. What, a girl can't play soccer now? But we literally run the score up into the double digits every time we play and all they say is that they were going easy on us cuz we've got girls on the team!"

She stops and takes a deep breath. She's actually complained about this before, multiple times, ever since she'd turned nine and been deemed old enough - and tall enough - to play in official matches. Or as official as elementary school club competitions can get anyway, and being able to play against other schools was awesome, but that didn't mean some of their opponents weren't dickheads. At least she'll finally enter middle school next year and probably won't ever bump into this particular group of idiots on the field again, but until then, she's no doubt going to complain some more.

And her brother always listens with the sort of patience he wouldn't extend to anyone else's whining, which Karin likes to take shameless advantage of, but on occasion, she also needs other ways to vent, and that was really what today had been all about after enduring last Friday's game.

Right on cue, Ichigo asks without looking up, "Haven't you gotten it out of your system yet?"

Karin huffs and takes another long drought of tea before speaking. "Kind of? But the guy didn't even put up a fight! He even pissed himself, Ichi-nii! Before I even did anything! It was gross!"

Ichigo finally lifts his head just to level a look at her. "You play with your food too much."

Karin stares indignantly back at him. "I do not!"

"How long have you had your eye on this latest one?"

Since like, three weeks ago, but that's not Karin's fault! "It's not my fault he took forever to take the bait. You'd think it would've been easier with the way he stalked my jogging route every single day just to see me in a tank top and shorts. Besides, I was saving him for after last Friday's match! You know, as a treat."

"And now it's already Tuesday," Ichigo mutters, but he also pats her on the head in a vaguely comforting if condescending manner, like he's consoling her for a botched job.

Karin splutters. "Ichi-nii!"

Ichigo smirks briefly. "You're still young. You'll get better. There's no rush."

Karin pouts into her tea. Eleven - literally twelve in less than half a month! - isn't that young. She's definitely not a kid anymore. Ichigo was already scaring the crap out of half the town before he'd even hit his pre-teens. He hadn't even killed anyone yet back then but people twice his size would pick fights with him that he'd always win, and then he had started killing once he'd turned thirteen, which had only cemented his reputation. Karin and Yuzu had had to beg forever to get their brother to teach them some of the tricks of his trade, because they hadn't wanted to wait years to follow in Ichigo's footsteps, and Ichigo had thankfully agreed that it made sense for them to learn how to protect themselves.

Still, no matter how many bodies she and Yuzu have put in the ground - not that many actually, they've got a long way to go to catch up to Ichigo - Karin isn't so oblivious that she doesn't know that a good portion of the respect they receive these days is entirely down to their brother's looming shadow behind them. But everyone needs a goal or two in life, and one day, she wants people to look at her and flinch because she's scary enough all on her own.

"Did you clean up properly tonight?" Ichigo adds like an afterthought.

Karin rolls her eyes. "I would've called you if there was a problem. You know I have like three different cleanup crews and Mizuiro-nii on speed-dial."

She can't wait until she's tall enough to bag and carry adult corpses around on her own. It's embarrassing to have to call someone every time she - okay, she admits it - makes a bit of a mess. It's not an issue when Ichigo is there, and she just has to help him, but when she's alone, it pays to have extra hands in the aftermath, even if it feels kind of like she still has to be babysat.

"Cleanup crews?" Hirako suddenly interjects from where he's just been watching them and listening like he's never heard a single conversation in his life and it's somehow super fascinating. What a weirdo. "Where'd ya get those from?"

Karin squints at him. Why does he want to know? Shinigami old as dirt still don't know how to do their own cleanup?

"They're just local yakuza," Ichigo actually takes the time to answer, which seems exceptionally tolerant of him. He must really like this guy for some reason. "Someone always has some free time to lend a hand, and they don't mind sharing their dump sites."

Hirako arches an eyebrow. "They don't?"

Ichigo smiles lazily at him. "Not anymore."

Hirako stares at him for a beat longer before bursting into raucous laughter, except the sunny beach from before is shifting, sliding, fucking shimmering, and then it's no longer a beach even if it's still a field of yellow-gold-blue. Instead, sand dunes rise where there'd only been wild grasses and rocky outcrops before, an endless desert as far as the eye can see, while the sea isn't a sea at all but something that could be an oasis or just a mirage, now gone hazy behind a wave of heat, and all of it so deceptive and deadly that you might wonder how you could've ever mistaken it for anything remotely harmless at all.

And it's even worse beside him, because Urahara is sitting there, blandly smiling away from behind his fan, and he doesn't look much of anything, but the ocean of blood he's literally submerged in stirs for a minute like there's something large and lethal swimming in its depths. Karin can't see what it is though because the blood is so thick that she can barely even make out Urahara's face, let alone anything else.

She rubs at her eyes. They're giving her a headache. This is why she prefers baseline humans over ghosts. Ghosts naturally have more reiryoku than average living beings, and Shinigami have even more than that - way more - so Karin in turn sees a whole lot more than just flashes of transparent images when she has to look at them. And it would be bad enough if it was just that, but these two lie so much. She doesn't know if it's a Shinigami thing or Ichigo just attracts complications, although now that she thinks about it, Mizuiro had given her headaches at first too. It'd just been easier with him because when he'd started coming over to hang out, he didn't have anywhere near as much reiryoku as these two guys, and now Karin's just used to him so it doesn't much matter anymore.

But these two. She doesn't even know what Hirako's deal is, because as far as she's aware, he hasn't really lied about anything so far. His insides match his outsides, so to speak. But his manifestation also seems to imply that everything he says is as much a truth as it is a lie, or that it could be a lie just as much as it could be a truth, depending on the situation. Which doesn't make any sense, at least not to her.

And don't even get her started on Urahara. That man oozes shady vibes so it's not exactly a shock that his manifestation reflects that. It's just... who the heck has an ocean of blood representing their soul? It's not the fact that it's blood that confuses her; it's that the blood is all there is. Even if you kill a person a day for a thousand years, it can't be all that you are, right? Even Ichigo doesn't have something like that. Although to be fair, his reiatsu manifestation can probably come across as pretty disturbing too. But Karin basically grew up with it so she can't really say for sure. It's certainly never frightened her. Not that Urahara frightens her either. It's just... weird.

Both of these old dudes are so weird. They're the first people she's come across whose manifestations are as complex as her brother's, but she doesn't really know what she can interpret from them because manifestations are different from emotions, and besides that, emotions are her sister's wheelhouse anyway. Yuzu is the one who can pick up what someone is feeling at any moment and extrapolate from there. Karin just gets a bunch of pointless shitty abstract art shoved at her eyeballs, and Shinigami are clearly the worst about it.

And just to make it really unfair, Yuzu says that emotions rarely get too loud for her. Karin doesn't know if it's because her sister had been born with natural talent when it comes to controlling her ability while Karin... hadn't, or if Karin's ability encompasses so much of one of the senses she depends on most in everyday life that it simply affects her more easily, but either way, if the manifestation is a powerful one, then the longer she focuses on it, the more it can overwhelm her.

It'd been almost unbearable at first when she was younger, all of eight years old and finally tapping into her portion of the family inheritance, except even a glimpse of another student with slightly above average reiryoku levels could wipe her out for hours. There'd been days where Ichigo had had to pull her out of school just so she wouldn't have to see anyone, living or dead, and she'd needed almost six months before she'd gotten a proper handle on it.

During last Tuesday's dinner, she actually couldn't even see what Hirako and Urahara's faces looked like until near the end of it. Their reiatsu is just that strong, which means their manifestations appear completely solid and three-dimensional, and that means that those manifestations are the only things Karin sees most of the time when she has to look at them.

She doesn't even get the benefit of practically being able to read minds like Yuzu can. Although Yuzu always says it's nothing like reading minds. Karin remains unconvinced. Emotions can reveal a lot, especially with context clues. Manifestations on the other hand almost never react to whatever is happening in real time. Unlike emotions, they're rarely a consequence of outside stimuli. Hirako's had changed earlier, from illusory beach to the real desert hidden underneath, but that's because his manifestation has always been like that, switching between the two when the mood - his mood - strikes. Even now, it's already settling back onto the beach scene. It may have been somewhat affected by what Ichigo had said - by cleanup crews??? - but it hadn't shown anything that hadn't already been there, part of Hirako's soul.

In contrast, Urahara's the real outlier. Karin doesn't even want to think about his manifestation, never mind look at it. It's not that his soul has become something new either - the whole person would have to be swapped out for that to happen - but she's never met anyone, ever, whose manifestation seems to hinge so absolutely upon one person before. She's not even sure if Urahara is aware of how... fixated he is. And she definitely doesn't know what it means. Ichigo doesn't even like the guy, and Urahara - inside or outside - doesn't seem particularly hung up on Ichigo. Except of course for the little matter of how his actual-facts immortal soul is doing the near-equivalent of placing itself in the palm of Ichigo's hand, which- what. Didn't they just meet like two seconds ago? If Karin actually believed in love at first sight, she'd say this might be what it would look like if it could manifest a physical form in the creepiest way possible, but she doesn't, so to her, Urahara's just insane.

Anyway, no one can blame her for not wanting anything to do with these crazies, especially when coupled with her ability. She wouldn't give it up if she could, because it's hers, and it makes her special like Yuzu, like Ichi-nii, makes her part of the family in a way no one else but the three of them can be, but at the same time, it's honestly a pretty useless skill. Manifestations are just... portraits of souls laid bare, which sounds all kinds of impressive and philosophical but is actually just a fancy way of describing a lifetime of squatting in an art museum with all its exits sealed.

It's terrible all around, made doubly so by their houseguests, and in Karin's opinion, the sooner Ichigo gets tired of them, the better.

The room has gone silent, and Karin only notices when the mostly empty tea mug is plucked from her hand. She's pinching the bridge of her nose with her other hand, eyes closed, but she opens them then to peer up at her brother.

"It's getting late," Ichigo says without much inflection in his voice, but he also pats her head again, and a flare of reiatsu floods her retinas like cold spring water on a hot day, washing away the pain. "Go to bed. Lights out by eleven."

Karin's more than happy to get out of there, away from Less Crazy 1 and More Crazy 2.

"Mm, I know," She gives her brother a quick hug before clambering to her feet. "'Night, Ichi-nii. I'll leave the form in the kitchen."

Ichigo grunts his acknowledgement, and Karin spares a moment to nod in the general direction of the Shinigami before wandering away, pausing only long enough to scoop up her bag before making her way up the hall and to the master bedroom. She and Yuzu still prefer sharing each other's space even though Yuzu is fastidiously possessive about her own belongings, so Ichigo had given them the biggest room when they'd moved in, while he and Mizuiro had split the single and study-turned-bedroom between them. The best perk of this is of course the fact that she and Yuzu get the en suite bathroom to themselves.

Her sister is still up, bopping to some music on her headphones while reading one of the scrolls Urahara had given her. She barely glances up when Karin comes in, although she wrinkles her nose plenty when it's clear Karin hasn't had time to do her laundry.

Karin rolls her eyes and shuts the door behind her. "I won't leave anything lying around, don't faint."

Yuzu glowers at her. "I don't faint!"

Karin snickers as she ducks into the bathroom. "Whatever you say, princess."

The thud of a pillow hitting the bathroom door is her reply. It's actually pretty hilarious when Karin thinks about it. Yuzu's manifestation is a sterile white room lined with perfectly preserved faceless corpses wall to wall, but give her a human body with its guts spilling out, and she immediately runs for the nearest toilet. She doesn't mind the scent of blood, but gods forbid any stains linger where they shouldn't.

Speaking of, Karin digs out the set of clothes she'd changed out of earlier, after her stalker had been dealt with. She hadn't even gotten them very dirty this time, and she'd made sure to scrub everything clean in the river anyway before coming home, but she'll still have to toss them into the washer again if she doesn't want Yuzu nagging her about it. In the meantime, she shoves it all into a vacuum seal bag and leaves it in the corner. She can haul them over to the laundry room next door in the morning with the rest of the past week's load.

Her knives are tucked inside the duffel as well. Those she'll take care of tonight. Ichi-nii went all the way to Nagasaki to commission them for her from a semi-retired blacksmith last year. They're elegant and gorgeous, and they cut like a dream, sheathed in black leather and embossed with a small stylized K on the flat of each blade, only noticeable when the metal runs red. It's the best gift Karin has ever received, and if they ever rust, or she ever loses them, she'll probably bawl her eyes out.

She hops into the shower next, sighing happily as she relaxes under the hot water. Despite the atrocious company Ichigo keeps these days, today's still been an overall good day. She'll be able to go back to her jogging in peace starting tomorrow, and the upcoming match on Friday doesn't seem quite as irritating now that she's had someone to stab a time or ten. Of course, after the match is another matter entirely. Maybe she can tag along to Yuzu's bake sale on Saturday. There's always a couple suckers at the outskirts of Karakura too stupid to live.

It's something to look forward to. For now though, she finishes her shower, brushes her teeth, and then gets to work cleaning her knives. She doesn't have all night.

"Was Onii-chan still talking to Hirako-san and Urahara-san?" Yuzu asks a little later as they get ready for bed because their brother always knows if they stay up too late.

"Yeah," Karin says around a yawn as she sets her alarm. "They might still be out there. Can't you sense them?"

Yuzu shakes her head, leaning over to switch off the lamp on her nightstand. "They're... quiet, I guess. Quieter. I have to be in the same room as them to pick up on their emotions."

Karin hums as she rolls herself into her blankets. "What do you think about them?"

"I don't, really," Yuzu admits easily, so they're agreed on that at least. "Although if Onii-chan gets rid of them, I hope he can wait until after Urahara-san has finished teaching me."

Karin snorts. Typical.

They're silent for a moment until Yuzu speaks up again. "I think they're trouble. I mean, Onii-chan did mention it during dinner last week. But I think it's a different kind of trouble than the usual stuff. Not like yakuza or random creeps or even the monsters. Worse, I think they're going to bring trouble."

Karin frowns into the dark. Well, it's not anything she hasn't thought of herself. It's another reason why she dislikes them. If they've got problems, why do they have to dump them at Ichigo's doorstep? What have they ever done for Ichi-nii?

Still, "Ichi-nii will be able to handle it," Karin says with certainty. She's never known her brother to fail at anything. There has never been a problem Ichigo couldn't solve. He'd even cowed their father without ever laying a single hand on him, and that was back when Isshin had still been stronger than Ichigo.

"Well, obviously," Yuzu says, equally confident. "Maybe Onii-chan will even have some fun with it. I know the monsters don't give him any kind of challenge anymore. And he likes Hirako-san and Urahara-san well enough."

"He likes Hirako," Karin corrects, shooting a flummoxed look at the bed across the room. "Urahara, he could take or leave. I'm surprised Ichi-nii lets him come here at all."

"Yes," Yuzu says with an audible smile. "Onii-chan lets him come here."

Karin blinks. ...Huh.

"So, what, is it like... a crush?" Karin grimaces. Ew. "They're old and weird!"

Yuzu giggles. "I don't think I'd go that far. Yet. Besides, they're also powerful and interesting and not afraid of him, and you know what Onii-chan's like."

"Yeah, but I also thought Ichi-nii doesn't get crushes," Karin grouches. "I can't believe it's both ways."

"Both ways?" Yuzu echoes, and Karin can almost hear her eyes go wide. "Urahara-san too?"

Karin squints up at the ceiling. "What, you didn't pick that up from him? I mean I don't think it's actually a crush. Like you said. But there's something there."

"Urahara-san is a bit strange about Onii-chan," Yuzu agrees thoughtfully. "But I'm not exactly sure what it is. His emotions are hard to read sometimes. Hirako-san is easier. And nicer."

Karin makes a disgruntled sound. 'Nice' isn't how she'd put it, considering Hirako's reiatsu manifestation.

"Hirako-san isn't that bad," Yuzu says, amused. "And they're both kind of like Onii-chan, so that might be good. It's good to have friends."

Karin shrugs and grabs an extra pillow to hug. "Whether they're like him or not, if they do something dumb, Ichi-nii will handle it all the same."

Yuzu laughs, bright and cheerful and just a little anticipatory, even if she does seem to have a better opinion of them than Karin does.

The conversation between them fades away. Karin shuts her eyes and lets her thoughts drift. She has morning practice tomorrow and can't be late, so old weird men calling on her brother are frankly the least of her priorities.

[cheshiresense]

[Last Part Here]

Shinji timeee. Lol I’ve had a couple asks asking me to write Shinji into anything, he’s such a popular character.

-0-

The first time Shinji meets Kurosaki Ichigo, he almost dies.

On hindsight, he supposes it’s his own fault. After all, Kisuke did warn him - as much as a former member of Onmitsukidou seems capable of warning anybody about this sort of thing - over the phone call that had brought Shinji to Karakura Town so early in the game in the first place.

“I’ve made contact with Kurosaki Ichigo. He... knows more about our world than we thought. And it seems like he has already tapped into his Hollow powers. If it’s not too much trouble, Shinji-san, would you mind coming over to assess him? Ah, he’s a bit stronger than expected though, so it might be best to proceed with caution.”

Shinji had agreed of course. That was always the plan anyway. Now it was just sped up by several months, the cause of which made him equal parts wary and alarmed and curious because Kisuke had made it sound like the kid could use his Hollow powers without going feral, and could even use them well, which really shouldn’t be possible. It would be best for Shinji to check it out himself.

“This is the guy?” is the first thing Kurosaki Ichigo says in his presence when they meet in Kisuke’s training grounds.

Shinji’s first impression of him is Kaien with orange hair, and then arrogant brat because the scowling expression on the kid’s face is both unimpressed and vaguely dubious as he looks Shinji up and down, and then finally somethin’s off because those brown eyes are normal enough at first glance, a little cold and a lot bored, but not a hint of out-of-control Hollow anywhere. Except when Shinji meets that gaze, a chill runs down his spine all the same, and at the back of his mind, Sakanade whispers a warning.

“Indeed,” Kisuke is saying, smiling benignly at everyone in general even as his eyes remain honed and unblinking on Ichigo.

That should’ve been Shinji’s second clue.

“Shinji-san is amongst the strongest of Shinigami captains that have passed through the Gotei 13,” Kisuke continues, much to Shinji’s wry amusement because that’s a pretty diplomatic way of saying framed and exiled for treason with bounties on their heads.

“Shinji-san,” Kisuke finally turns to look at him, still smiling. “Kurosaki-san here enjoys a challenge. I told him that you have powers similar to his, and that you would be able to give him a decent fight.”

And that should’ve been Shinji’s third clue. Unfortunately, he’s still under the impression that this is a wet-behind-the-ears, largely clueless, human-raised fifteen-year-old who’s spent his entire life in a backwater town, albeit one who knows martial arts and has managed to access some of the power he was born with without needing a Shinigami’s blade to trigger it. It doesn’t occur to Shinji to read more into it.

He probably should’ve asked more questions. Especially when this is all coming from a man like Urahara Kisuke.

(A hundred years in the Human world, and Shinji’s grown careless.)

“Then, if you’re ready,” Kisuke retreats to a cliff overlooking this particular clearing, one hand reaching up to tilt his hat down, shading his eyes. “You can begin anytime.”

Shinji didn’t even bother with a gigai when he came here, so he has access to his sword, but he makes no move to draw it as he turns to Ichigo with a lazy smirk. “So how’re we doin’ this? You don’t have a Zanpakutou yet, right? Can you summon your mas-”

There is barely any warning. A spike of bloodlust and a blur of colour, and then— pain.

The only reason Shinji doesn’t get his heart ripped out is entirely down to the centuries-honed reflex that kicks his ass into gear, reiatsu sparking at his feet as he wrenches himself out of the way just in time, resulting in a deep furrow of claw marks that scores across his chest, down his ribs, and takes a chunk out of his side right before he manages to throw himself backwards and out of range.

His shirt’s a lost cause, and blood gushes from the gouged flesh just above his right hip. He staggers as he lands, one hand automatically clamping over the worst of the injury. His head spins for a moment, his surroundings waver, then settle again, and Sakanade snaps at him, “Are you asleep?! What are you doing, you fool?”

What the fuck, Shinji thinks in a daze, blood pounding in his ears as his eyes lock on to the biggest threat in the immediate vicinity.

Kurosaki Ichigo is still standing in the clearing, one claw-tipped hand stained red with Shinji’s lifeblood, but it’s his eyes that stand out most, because they’re the exact same as before - a little cold, a lot bored - as the kid remarks in Kisuke’s direction, “This is your strongest? Are you joking?”

Shinji meets that gaze again, and he doesn’t need to be told to know - this guy’s killed before.

“Well, whatever,” Kurosaki Ichigo says, nonchalantly flicking some of the blood form his hand. His head cocks, almost animal-like, and his irises flare a burnished gold, all bloodthirsty focus. “I don’t leave fights unfinished.”

And then he’s gone in a rush of something three steps left of Shunpo, quick as a lightning strike and just as lethal, and Shinji dodges just as another swipe of those claws nearly takes his head off from behind. They smash into the ground Shinji had been standing on instead, and rock and debris shatter beneath the blow.

A bit stronger, Shinji’s ass. This isn’t a bit stronger, this is fuckin’-

“You can’t give a poor showing here, Shinji,” Sakanade tells him, serious in a way that doesn’t quite align with the rising anticipation he can sense from her now. Nor with the rapid thud of his own heart beating in time with it. “If you don’t fight like you want to kill him, he won’t hesitate to kill you first.”

Shinji flashes backwards, one step, two step, three, lands, turns on his heel, and then lashes out without holding anything back, slamming his foot straight into Ichigo’s chest. He feels the crack of at least three ribs, feels the sting of another slash of claws when it nicks a line down the left side of his face, and he knows he only has moments to breathe as he sends Ichigo hurtling backwards through two stone formations and into the side of a cliff, hard enough to send fragments of rubble flying in every direction.

A beat of silence follows. Shinji doesn’t waste it. He unsheathes his Zanpakutou and calls up his mask, and even as power coalesces about him like a much beloved cloak, he keeps all his senses trained on the relentless thrumming pulse of reiatsu that’s finally rearing its head in the distance.

Laughter rings out across the training grounds, wild with the echo of a Hollow, and genuine with a savage sort of delight.

“So you’re not weak, just slow to start,” Ichigo comments as he strides out of the clouds of dust hanging in the air, and that face no longer looks so bored. He tips his head up, a serrated mimicry of a grin curling across his lips, and his eyes gleam with a single-minded ferocity that makes Shinji’s blood sing.

In the depths of his soul, Sakanade laughs, goading and gleeful.

Shinji’s voice comes out equally distorted under the manifestation of his Hollow side, and all around him, his own reiatsu surges, stills, poised to attack.

“I hope you know,” He grounds out, rolling onto the balls of his feet. “What you’re gettin’ into, brat.”

And that’s the only warning Shinji gives before he disappears and reappears in the kid’s blind spot, blade already angled for his throat because it’s never a good idea to push a Visored too far, and yet this brat-

Metal against bone(?) screeches through the air as one hand stops his sword and the other takes a swing at his gut. Shinji breaks Ichigo’s grip on his Zanpakutou and spins out of the way, just to try and stab him again, missing his abdomen but cutting into his side before Ichigo deflects the rest of it and sinks his claws into Shinji’s shoulder in return. Shinji snarls and rips himself away, but not before closing his own free hand around the kid’s wrist and twisting, hard enough to dislocate the joint. He almost gets skewered for his efforts, and then they’re off, each of them pulling back several feet before crashing together again, dashing back and forth across the training grounds as they do their level fucking best to kill each other.

They tear up their surroundings without care, tear into each other like their ancestors had called a blood feud, and they don’t stop even when their respective clothes are more rags than not.

It’s vicious and brutal and destructive, and it’s the best damn fight Shinji’s had in ages. Ichigo is good, fucking excellent, instinct blending seamlessly with a tactical mind that almost gets Shinji killed another half-dozen times, and he has no idea where this kid learned to fight or how he’d grown up so fucking ruthless with a thirst for blood and battle that borderlines insane, but the sheer weight of it makes even Shinji’s sword-arm tremble with every blow, and the pressure of his reiatsu ratchets higher and higher like it has no limit.

It’s a marvel to watch, and almost terrifying to face.

But at the end of the day, Shinji is still Shinji, former Fifth Division Shinigami captain, with several centuries’ worth of practice and experience over this feral misfit boy, and it’ll be a while yet - far shorter a time than common sense dictates, but still, a while - before he’ll be able to defeat Shinji.

(Shinji doesn’t doubt for a second though, that one day, and one day soon, his defeat will be inevitable.)

(Kisuke has created a monster.)

(And what a glorious monster Kurosaki Ichigo makes.)

“Stay down!” He snarls, hammering Ichigo into the ground for the third time in the past five minutes, and this time, he follows it up by plunging his Zanpakutou straight through the boy’s shoulder - not the heart, Shinji - pinning him like a butterfly because there’s really no other way.

The kid spits curses at him, and a wayward flail of his hand slices Shinji’s thigh open, dangerously close to his femoral artery, before Shinji manages to grab that and crush it against the ground as well. He looms over the boy and jams a knee into his gut hard enough to make the other wheeze. His remaining hand closes around Ichigo’s throat, tight enough to bruise, tight enough to scream threat, and finally, miraculously, Ichigo stops.

Their chests heave for breath. Shinji’s all but blind in one eye from the blood dripping into it, his first stop after this is the goddamn shower because his hair is a mess, and underneath him, immobilized but nowhere near harmless, Ichigo doesn’t look any better.

Shinji bares his teeth in a facsimile of a grin. “Yield?”

He can see the single moment Ichigo takes to really debate that, testing Shinji’s grip on him, weighing his own strength, his own exhaustion, before grudgingly coming to the natural conclusion.

“Yield,” The kid rasps, and the last of the fight leaves him limp beneath Shinji’s grasp.

Shinji huffs and releases him, only a little wary of a surprise attack that doesn’t come. They’re both sweaty and covered in blood, and Shinji’s long since lost his mask, his three minutes used up. His muscles ache, he’s bruised all over, and his injuries are only just beginning to heal.

He hasn’t fought someone this tough since... longer than he cares to remember. Aizen doesn’t count; there hadn’t been enough time to fight before the Hollowfication had put him down.

Ichigo though...

Shinji yanks out his sword, quirking a sardonic smile when Ichigo hisses at him but otherwise doesn’t even flinch, and Shinji’s gaze lingers on the way the stab wound instantly starts knitting itself back together.

Healing factor through the roof. Handy.

He sighs and sits back on his haunches and watches Ichigo push himself up into sitting position, rolling his shoulders like he’s just had a decent workout instead of a fight that could’ve been fatal for one or both of them.

Shinji snorts, and he isn’t surprised either when it comes out way too fucking fond. “Kid, you’re fuckin’ crazy.”

Ichigo looks over at him, blinking, then grins. There’s blood in his teeth and dark exhilaration in his eyes, the same exhilaration that’s still coursing through Shinji’s veins and making his fingers itch, for blood, for battle, for the freedom found in the unrestrained violence that he has never been known for in all the years of his military career.

But he also knows the kind of person he is better than anyone, and Sakanade isn’t a predator - feline and cunning and even cruel when the mood strikes, especially after she Hollowfied - just for shits and giggles.

Speaking of which, Sakanade also presses forward now, her bloodlust only barely leashed again even as she remains alert and inquisitive, and wholly intent on Ichigo in a way that speaks of a sharp, hungry sort of interest that Shinji absolutely, determinedly, 100% ignores.

Hollows are more in tune with their base instincts than any other species, and a fight of this level would get anyone’s blood pumping.

"You’re not that different,” Ichigo says in response, and it comes out almost cheerful. Shinji gives him another once-over and thinks happy is a good look on him.

Hell of a thing to make him happy, but... well. To each their own.

“We should fight again,” Ichigo adds, all eagerness and challenge.

Shinji snorts. “Not today. Not the next couple days either. Gimme a break, kid, I’m an old man. I need some time to recover.”

Ichigo tilts his head to one side, his expression turning thoughtful. In contrast, his smile goes sharp and curious, but before he can say anything, the sound of clapping interrupts.

Ichigo’s features fall back into that scowl that Shinji is beginning to realize is his resting face. That, or Kisuke’s presence just brings it out in him, which wouldn’t shock Shinji, who’s feeling inexplicably annoyed himself.

They both turn to where the shopkeeper is approaching on clacking footsteps, smiling like the troll he is, and watching Ichigo like he’s just witnessed an impossible phenomenon.

But all he trills out is, “What an exciting battle!” He pouts. “But you’ve done quite the number to my training grounds.”

Shinji sneers and hoists himself to his feet. Beside him, Ichigo does the same.

“Thanks for the heads-up,” He says, dry as Hueco Mundo. “Since you’re the one who gave us permission to fight here, don’t complain.”

He pauses, then turns back to Ichigo, who’s already folding himself back into average teenaged boy, shielding the world from the ravenous beast within. Or maybe just finding most of the world not worth the effort of revealing that beast to.

Idly, Shinji wonders what shape Ichigo’s soul has taken.

“You hungry?” He asks instead.

Ichigo blinks owlishly at him. “I could eat.”

Shinji grunts and stretches out his limbs. Damn, he’s going to be sore tomorrow. “Let’s clean up, and then you can show me what’s good around here. I’m starvin’.”

He’s curious to see what this kid is like when he isn’t on the hunt for his next kill.

Ichigo shrugs. “Sure. Sushi’s always good. My treat.”

“Oh?” Shinji arches an eyebrow as they begin making their way to the ladder leading back up to the shop. “How nice of you.”

Ichigo shrugs again. “I lost. My treat.”

Shinji chuckles. “Fair ’nough.”

Ichigo smirks. “So you should start saving up now, cuz when I beat you, you’re gonna have to treat me back.”

Shinji outright cackles. “You brat. That’ll be the day.”

That will be the day, inevitable as the sun, and when it comes, Shinji can’t even say for sure whether or not this boy will leave him alive.

“Are you treating me too?” Kisuke pipes up from behind them.

Ichigo instantly glowers. “Did you beat me? No, so no, you creepy stalker.”

And then, without slowing to use the ladder, he leaps for the shop proper in one bounding step.

Shinji waits until he’s out of sight before slanting a glance back at his fellow former captain, who is no longer smiling.

“You and I are gonna have a long chat after this, Kisuke.”

Kisuke inclines his head and doesn’t say another word.

-0-

Hours later, after their bellies are full, and Ichigo’s gone home, Shinji finds himself back at the shop, seated at the table with Kisuke, with a bottle of sake between them.

“What’s his relationship with Isshin like?” Shinji asks in offhand tones as he pours himself a drink.

“Hm?”

“Don’t ‘hm’ me,” Shinji scoffs. “There’s no way a guy like that would be willin’ to stay under the thumb of a man like Isshin. There’s no way Isshin could make him obey.”

Kisuke sighs. “A few weeks back, when I called him, Isshin-san admitted he lost control of Kurosaki-san years ago.”

Shinji’s eyebrows go up briefly, as unsurprised as he is unimpressed. He takes a swig of alcohol. “’Course he did. And didn’t tell us. Dumbass.”

He takes another sip before continuing, “So then, where’d he learn to fight if not from his old man? You can’t pick up the things he can do in a human dojo, that’s for sure.”

He swirls the liquid in his cup before quirking a smile full of dark humour. “It can only be one thing, right? Tapped into his Hollow powers, my ass. Kid probably has full access to his soulscape at this point. You’ve really dropped the ball on this one, Kisuke.”

Kisuke grimaces faintly. “I... have not paid as much attention as I could’ve over the course of his childhood. I had thought that Isshin-san would note down any anomalies and report it to me, but...” He trails off, then sighs again and confesses, “I hadn’t thought- With how the Shiba Clan is, I hadn’t thought Kurosaki-san would turn out... the way he has.”

Shinji laughs in his face. “What way? Sociopathic? Homicidal? Uncontrollable?”

Kisuke’s expression says it all.

Shinji shakes his head. “Might be better this way. You think so too, don’t you? Aizen definitely won’t be expectin’ him. Of course, that’s only if we manage to convince Ichigo to kill him - and only him - for us, which just might turn out to be the hardest thing to do on our end. But hey,” He grins, and he knows it isn’t a friendly one. “You wanted a weapon, and you got it. Congrats.”

Kisuke doesn’t reply, so they fall silent after that. The clock ticks the seconds by. The sake slowly disappears between them.

Shinji’s just about to call it a night when Kisuke finally speaks up again. “Ah, by the way, Shinji-san.”

Shinji flicks a look over at the shopkeeper, at the oddly tentative edge to his smile and the careful look in his eyes. He snorts.

“I don’t need you givin’ me a lecture on morality,” Shinji says, flat and unamused even as Sakanade croons something of desire in their soulscape. “The things I know not to do, I won’t do. But maybe this will teach you to think twice the next time you wanna throw someone with that much huntin’ instinct in their blood at someone like me, without even givin’ me so much as a real by-your-leave. You and I both know you did that on purpose, to see what Ichigo can do.”

Kisuke at least has the decency to wince. Shinji rolls his eyes and tosses back the last of his sake. “Still the same, after all these years. But I guess, deep down, nobody really changes.”

He glances out the window at the full moon peeking out from behind a few wisps of clouds. “Everythin’s comin’ to a head, and Kurosaki Ichigo ain’t anythin’ any of us imagined. He won’t change for anyone, so here’s to hopin’ we all survive it.”

[cheshiresense]

I missed this bit in the server and only stumbled on it when I was scrolling back to look for something. It's just a couple paragraphs but I figured I'd include it since I did write it.

-0-

Chrome says nothing for another few minutes, but Tsuna doesn't get the feeling that she's ignoring him, only that she's thinking about what to say.

"I had Mist cameras at the Vongola mansion," She says at last. Her voice is a little deeper and a little fuller than her child self, still soft-spoken too but steady in a way Tsuna isn't used to. "They notified me of movement, but I thought it was just another Millefiore patrol until I had time to check them." She pauses, and then looks at him - that's another new thing: she meets his gaze easily enough - and asks, "How much do you know about… what's happened?"

Tsuna blinks and then shrugs a bit. "Um, I guess I know the gist of it? About Millefiore and Byakuran and the Arcobaleno. And most of Vongola's probably in hiding. Oh, and I know about how my future self died."

For a moment, they stare at each other. Tsuna's had over a month to get used to his adult self being dead, and honestly, it's never not felt like that death happened to someone else, not him, so it's actually pretty easy to distance himself from it.

Besides, he's been threatened with death constantly for over a year now. At some point, you just stop getting worked up about it.

Still, something about this moment strikes him as odd, and it only takes him another few seconds to understand what it is. He likes to think that if there's one thing he's relatively good at, it's picking up cues from other people and figuring out what they're feeling. Sometimes, it helped him talk his way out of a beating from his bullies, if he managed to say just the right thing to appease them.

And Chrome right now? She watches him carefully like she thinks he might start panicking or gibbering with fear, but behind that, there's no grief. His future self's death does not affect her, at least not enough for Tsuna to sense. And perhaps that shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Chrome in his time only helped him because Mukuro wanted her to, and considering what Tsuna knows about his future self, it doesn't seem like they became any kind of friends over the course of the next ten years.

So Tsuna pushes away the sting of it and ignores the questions that have popped up more than once at the back of his mind: Did anyone really mourn me in the future? Was my death important to anyone because they actually cared and not because they had to care?

It's not Chrome's fault he turned out even worse than everyone's always said he would.

"My future self had these diaries and notebooks where he wrote down stuff about his life and Vongola," He babbles on instead. "I found them at the mansion. That's actually how I found this place. He listed all of Vongola's safehouses in one of the notebooks."

My last thingamajig from discord, I don’t think I posted this over here yet?? Hopefully not. It’s just another dead-end idea I had for a future arc AU.  Ends right in the middle of the start of a conversation too lol, I think I got derailed talking about some other headcanon. It was probably hec’s fault. Anyway, might continue it one day, might not, who knows, definitely not me.

-0-

What if the whole future plot was never a thing? What if Lambo’s bazooka was just malfunctioning again, dropped on Tsuna, and took him to the future where he wakes up in his future self’s coffin? And doesn’t return him after five minutes?

Keep reading

[cheshiresense]

[Last Time on Stunted Empathy]

Mizuiro pov..

-0-

Mizuiro holds his tongue for two weeks. Two weeks after the new girl transfers into their class and starts following Ichigo around (tsundere fangirl? stalker??), he finally can’t help asking plaintively, during one of the increasingly rare moments she isn’t with them, “What’s so good about her?”

Sure, she’s cute and delicate-looking, with a firecracker temper when she thinks no one but Ichigo is around, and she sticks out the way all new faces in a school tend to stick out when they first arrive, especially when they’re pretty, but when has Ichigo ever cared about stuff like that? And yet he tolerates her presence in a way Mizuiro hasn’t seen him do with any other girl before, even the ones brave enough to confess their crushes.

Still, if that was all, well, Mizuiro would probably still complain, but it would also be understandable. Who knows, maybe Ichigo finally wants a girlfriend, and Kuchiki is his type. But it’s not just that, because on top of it all, this girl is weird.

She has no background. It was the first thing Mizuiro checked the moment she started hanging out with them. Her ID is fake, her transfer papers are fake, and her life history is flimsier than soggy tissue. For all intents and purposes, Kuchiki Rukia does not exist.

And as if that wasn’t suspicious enough, she’s also taken to hanging all over Ichigo like white on rice. She doesn’t act like she’s got a crush on him, or even remotely likes him. She wants something from him - that much is obvious - but she also stares at him with a complicated cocktail of curiosity and wariness, a pensive sort of apprehension and an intrusive kind of interest, and just a dash of fear to top it off.

Mizuiro doesn’t like it. In his opinion, if you’re normal enough, dull enough, to be afraid of Ichigo, then you have no business hanging around him and wasting his time.

To be perfectly honest, Mizuiro would’ve already gotten rid of this girl if not for the fact that Ichigo hasn’t given the okay yet, implied or otherwise. And it’s frustrating, because this time, Mizuiro doesn’t even know why. For all intents and purposes, Kuchiki is exactly the type to annoy the hell out of Ichigo, if for no other reason than because she’s an unnecessary complication in Ichigo’s life.

Kurosaki Ichigo has never liked being involved in any complicated issues that could force him to waste time dealing with it. That’s something Mizuiro has known from almost the very beginning of their acquaintance, and it’s also something Mizuiro has always taken pride in, because Ichigo doesn’t suffer fools, and to this day, sisters aside, only Mizuiro has managed to stay in Ichigo’s good graces.

He’s aware that most of the student populace regard him with either envy or fear, sometimes tangled up in a layer of awe, for the sole reason of being Ichigo’s one and only friend. The former is reserved for those who only see the surface, who like Ichigo’s good looks and good grades and good athletic ability. The latter is for those who’ve at least glimpsed a little of what Ichigo is like behind the introverted honours student persona, and they all side-eye Mizuiro like they don’t understand why he isn’t afraid to walk around in such close proximity with Karakura’s scariest monster.

(Mizuiro doesn’t quite know how to explain without sounding like a complete sociopath that he’s never been afraid of Ichigo because the worst Ichigo will ever do to him is kill him slowly, but the thing Mizuiro is most afraid of isn’t pain or death. The thing he’s most afraid of is boredom, and the thing he’s second most afraid of is being left behind, neither of which he’ll ever have to worry about when it comes to Ichigo so long as he remains useful and loyal.)

So he’s well-known as Ichigo’s only friend, but he’s also well aware that Ichigo doesn’t have friends. However, Mizuiro’s probably the closest Ichigo will ever get to one, three steps left of subordinate and trusted as much as Ichigo trusts anyone, and Mizuiro clings to that with a jealous ferocity that he’d literally kill to keep.

He needs friends about as much as Ichigo does, which is not at all. But he’d been curious about Ichigo from the moment he’d realized that a boy barely into his teens could have an entire town under his thumb if he didn’t find it so troublesome, and he’d admired him from the moment he’d seen firsthand exactly how murderously far Ichigo is willing to go for those under his protection. Both those opinions had cemented the day some unfortunate yakuza had gotten it into their heads that Mizuiro made for an easy target to get at Ichigo, only for them to disappear before Mizuiro could even stop chortling hysterically about it long enough to ruin their credit scores. Those same yakuza had been fished out of the river days later, in pieces, Ichigo had carried on like nothing had happened, and Mizuiro had known then that he’d burn his own family to the ground on Ichigo’s say-so, because for someone like him, last in a long line of siblings and cousins, relegated to grunt-work when they remember him and forgotten the rest of the time, Kurosaki Ichigo is nothing short of miraculous.

There’s something not quite normal about Ichigo, he doesn’t tick the same way as most humans, but the same could definitely be said of Mizuiro, who's never been able to muster up any true attachment to anyone until he’d met Ichigo, so really, it’s no wonder the two of them get along.

But nowhere in this equation does some random girl factor in, and bottom line, the point of the matter is, Mizuiro has never had to share his place in Ichigo’s life with anybody before, and he isn’t about to start now.

Two weeks is really all he can tolerate of Kuchiki Rukia. No one’s ever accused Mizuiro of being nice.

Ichigo glances over from where he’s lounging against the metal fence of the rooftop that they’ve long since claimed as their own. He’s finished his lunch, and now he’s just reading a book to while away the rest of the hour before afternoon classes. For once, Rukia isn’t around, having been kept back by a teacher who wants to go over some of the curriculum with the new transfer student.

“Not much, that I’ve seen,” Ichigo says after a moment of detached consideration, much to Mizuiro’s relief. At least it doesn’t seem like he’s being replaced. Ichigo shrugs and goes back to his book. “She’s related to the spirit stuff.”

Mizuiro’s eyebrows go up, and he instinctively straightens. “She’s- She can see them too? Those ghosts and monsters?”

It’s another perk of being someone Ichigo trusts. Ichigo doesn’t usually volunteer information first, but if Mizurio asks the right questions, Ichigo doesn’t mind answering either. And Mizuiro has never disbelieved him about spirits because Ichigo’s not the type to lie, and also what would even be the point? Of course, the icing on the cake had been the fact that the more time he spent with Ichigo, the clearer Mizuiro can see as well. He hadn’t been able to, at the beginning, when he’d asked and Ichigo had pointed at patches of thin air where ghosts were floating about. But three weeks after the first time he’d personally witnessed Ichigo fight something that had left him with bruised knuckles and a bloodied shirt and feral eyes that glowed yellow, Mizuiro had started seeing outlines, then translucent shapes, and then eventually those ghosts and monsters that roamed the streets of Karakura were things that he could see and interact with too.

Neither of them knows how that had come to be, but they hadn’t been particularly interested in figuring out the nuances of it either. Ichigo couldn’t be bothered, and Mizuiro was just happy that he could be a part of this parallel world with Ichigo. Aside from the two of them though, there are the twins, who can see a bit, and that odd boy from their class Ishida Uryuu, who goes around shooting the monsters with arrows, but this is the first time they’ve met someone not native to Karakura who can see them as well.

“She’s one of them,” Ichigo says curtly, idly flipping a page. “There’s a whole-” He waves a hand. “-afterlife society that you can apparently go to after you die, and some can become Shinigami, which are basically soldiers who deal with those monsters. Kuchiki’s a Shinigami sent by the afterlife government. I keep her around because she knows a lot about the spiritual world, and she’s my in with the local Shinigami authority.”

He pauses, looking like he wants to stop talking, but after a moment, he sighs and musters up enough energy to summarize the rest for Mizuiro - about Urahara, about the things he’s revealed, about Soul Society.

“Urahara...” Mizuiro echoes, frowning, and then pulls out his phone. It’s rare for him to have no information on someone who’s apparently this important. Even if he couldn’t figure out this shopkeeper isn’t human, he should’ve come across something that would’ve singled the guy out in some way.

“Don’t bother,” Ichigo interjects, his focus already shifting back to his book again. “He’s better than you.”

Mizuiro stiffens. Suddenly, Kuchiki doesn’t seem like such an eyesore after all. Who cares about some girl Ichigo is just using for information? He’s better than you. That’s as good as genuine praise, and Ichigo doesn’t praise anyone except his sisters.

Mizuiro stares down at his phone for a long minute, knuckles white. Then he forces himself to relax and looks over at Ichigo with a poison-sweet smile. “Someone better than me - how interesting. Can I meet him?”

Ichigo flicks a glance at him and snorts. “Do whatever you want. Idiot.”

Some of the tension leaks from Mizuiro’s shoulders. So not competition then.

Still.

These people have caught Ichigo’s attention. That alone means Mizuiro has some catching up to do.

Shinigami.

Mizuiro wonders what kind of lives they lead, and how much of it he’ll be able to ruin.

The roof door swings open and Kuchiki strides through, looking disgruntled and already opening her mouth to complain. Her gaze slides dismissively over Mizuiro like he doesn’t even register as a potential threat.

Mizuiro glances down at his phone again before putting it away and nailing on his most charming smile instead. If there’s no electronic trail to hack, then he can only do this the old-fashioned way. Fortunately for him, there’s never been anything wrong with his conversational skills.

[cheshiresense]

Ichigo is born without much aptitude in the way of empathy. That changes everything and nothing all at once.

-0-

Ichigo spends the first nine years of his life playing at normal child. Masaki found out, early on, when she discovered Ichigo standing over a bully in an out-of-the-way corner at school, whimpering from scraped knees and the vicious kick Ichigo delivered to his ribs when he tried to take Ichigo's new backpack. Ichigo watched him cry and bleed with clinical interest and didn't let the older boy get up until Masaki ushered him away.

She didn't stop loving him after that, even though some part of him thought she might— and didn't care. She seemed sad and furious in equal measure, and cursed several someones to the gates of Hell and beyond when she thought he wasn't listening, but all she did in the end was hug him tight and then teach him how to act like a normal boy if he didn't want the world to crush him.

"You shouldn't have to hide, my darling," Masaki would whisper fiercely. "And you should never be ashamed of who you are, but the world has rules even you can't ignore, and you have to be careful when others can hurt you. And someone always can."

So Ichigo learned, to laugh, to cry, to pick fights with Tatsuki because that made Isshin happy and therefore less annoying, and even to indulge in homework and slightly above average grades because that made the teachers smile and nod and overlook him entirely.

Then his mom dies, and Ichigo still doesn't love her, but she was his, and she loved him no less for what he lacked, protected him when she didn't have to time and time again, smoothing over ruffled feathers the few times Ichigo's more violent tendencies sent other children crying to their parents, burying the body of the raccoon he killed when he caught it going through their trashcan, and now saving him at the cost of her own life, and if nothing else, he doesn't like it when other people take his things.

(Almost six years later, Ichigo meets Grand Fisher again, and this time, it doesn't get away. He carves it up like a Thanksgiving turkey and doesn't let it die until his sandals squelch with every step through the blood-soaked grass.)

-0-

[cheshiresense]

[Insert Time Skip After the First Arc Over Here Because I Don’t Want To Write The In-Between Bits]

I think I’ll do snapshots of different POVs this time 🤔 Have some Kisuke first.

-0-

The first time Kisuke really sees Kurosaki Ichigo beyond a glimpse here and there around town over the years is when Kuchiki Rukia almost dies on the street outside the Kurosaki house.

He watches, from a nearby rooftop, the way Ichigo watches from his windowsill, bored and unmoved by the twelve-foot monster doing its level best to kill the girl. He only does that for about two minutes before retreating, and then Kisuke watches him gather his sisters and order them into their coats and shoes before bundling them out the back door.

Fishbone D takes a chunk out of the house and almost beats the Kuchiki girl to death. Kisuke has no choice but to cut in (what are the Shinigami teaching their recruits these days?), and Ichigo doesn’t come home until morning. The boy ignores the construction work going on, heads inside to pack three bags, and then leaves again without so much as checking in with Isshin. Kisuke follows him to an apartment complex owned by the Kojima family where the twins have apparently been settled for the time being.

Right before Ichigo disappears inside, he turns and stares directly at the spot Kisuke is studying him from, concealed behind an illusion spell. It only lasts a second, short enough that it could be dismissed as coincidence, but it leaves Kisuke feeling distinctly taken off-guard anyway.

The first thing Kisuke does after returning to his shop is call Isshin. He probably should’ve done that back when Isshin stopped volunteering updates on Ichigo’s... “progress”.

Isshin is nothing if not bullheaded. Some might call it goal-oriented. Kisuke would call it an inability to adapt and consider any other options once an idea has become fixed in his head. And that’s being kind. He should’ve realized something was off the moment Isshin’s routine changed.

“There’s something wrong with that kid, Kisuke,” is what Isshin tells him, voice heavy with something not quite fear. Uneasiness, perhaps, cut through with caution.

“Do you think he’s being affected by his Hollow?” Kisuke asks. It hadn’t seemed like it, from the little he’d observed - no violence, or the urge to dole it out either - but something could be leaking through all the same. Even if he’d already known about the existence of Hollows, which comes as a bit of a surprise but isn’t so far-fetched considering what killed Masaki, and some Hollows do manage to get into Karakura long enough to cause havoc before they can be dealt with, the way he’d just watched when Kuchiki Rukia was fighting for her life is... frankly, not good for their cause.

“...I don’t know,” Isshin finally says after a long minute of silence. “I just know that Ichigo won’t do anything he doesn’t want to do, and he’s definitely not the type to turn the other cheek. The Soul King knows I lost control of him years ago. Maybe you’ll be able to convince him or force him, but if you manage to force him, just... make sure to watch your back.”

How ominous.

Kisuke mulls that over for a while but ultimately sets it aside. After all, in the end, Ichigo is still just a fifteen-year-old boy who’s lived as a Human since he was born. If Kisuke can’t even handle that much, he might really need to rethink his own capabilities. Even if Ichigo is operating on the baser instincts of his Hollow, at most, that just means he’ll be easier to goad into a fight. That lack of altruistic care for a stranger might be a problem, but Kisuke can work with that. Putting Rukia in his path won’t be difficult, and what teenager wouldn’t be at least a little curious about a Shinigami running around?

So, first order of business - hide the Hogyoku in Rukia’s soul, and make sure she can still carry out her duties. She’ll be weaker than usual, and she won’t be getting any better, but she’ll be able to swing her Zanpakutou around, which should be enough to catch Ichigo’s interest.

And Kisuke only needs one opportunity to push a situation into dire enough circumstances for Rukia to offer her powers, and for Ichigo to unlock his.

-0-

Of course, nothing is that easy.

The first time Kisuke finally manages to maneuver Ichigo, Rukia, and an angry Hollow into the same space, the battle goes south fast, which is about the only part of the plan that pans out. Mostly because Rukia is too weak to fend it off, and Ichigo hangs back with his hands in his pockets, looking vaguely disgusted by how one-sided the fight is going and not at all afraid.

As expected, Rukia offers to lend Ichigo her powers and temporarily transform him into a Shinigami in her stead.

Unexpectedly, Ichigo sneers back at her, knocks her aside, and then strides right towards the Hollow charging at them in all its grinning masked glory.

Just as Kisuke - alarmed because he needs this boy alive for any of his plans to work - is thinking of diving to the rescue, Ichigo’s eyes flash a familiar searing gold before he slides under the wild swing of the Hollow’s fist, leaps nimbly onto its arm, and then uses it as a launchpad to propel himself up towards its face. He moves faster than a Human body should be capable of, and at the pinnacle of his jump, one of his hands - clawed - lashes out, fingers embedding themselves into the Hollow’s mask.

The crunch of it is loud in the clearing despite the pained roar of the Hollow, but that’s also abruptly cut off when Ichigo simply rips its entire mask off, kicks backwards so that he lands safely back on the grass while the Hollow is sent flying into a copse of trees, and then, in the same breath, he turns and hurls the crumbling mask straight at where Kisuke is perched on a tree branch. A black bolt of energy that looks a lot like a Cero tears after it like lightning, and the only reason Kisuke manages to draw Benihime in time to deflect it is entirely down to reflex.

The Cero-like attack slams into the ground instead and promptly explodes, sending rock and debris everywhere.

The ensuing silence is deafening.

Ichigo is the first to break it.

“I don’t know who you are,” The boy says in tones so mild that it makes a jarring contradiction to the ice burning in his Hollow eyes. “But I feel like you’re trying to manipulate me.” His gaze narrows. “I hate being manipulated.”

Kisuke stares back. He glances at the corpse of the Hollow, then at Rukia, wide-eyed with shock, then back at this fifteen-year-old boy with that unblinking stare of his that says he’s looking at a dead man. Pun not intended.

Kisuke shunpos down onto flat ground. Ichigo doesn’t so much as twitch, but he also hasn’t put his claws away.

Kisuke thinks about what Isshin said, and then about how easily Ichigo had dispatched the Hollow, about his footwork - light and easy, as good as any Onmitsukidou officer - and about how perfectly sane and coherent he seems right now.

Or, well, the sanity is still to be decided, but he’s capable of speech and reason, and that’s already far more than Kisuke had ever expected from someone who shouldn’t have any experience juggling Hollowfication.

And who knows? Maybe a little less sanity is exactly what they need.

Alright then. New plan.

He beams, bright and cheerful, and whips out his fan. “My apologies, Kurosaki-san. It’s a bad habit of mine. I meant no offense. My name is Urahara Kisuke, a Shinigami residing in Karakura Town.” He lets his smile widen behind the edge of his fan. “Perhaps we can speak back at my shop? I promise to give you an explanation.”

Ichigo’s lip curls, clearly unimpressed. But he also doesn’t say no, and when Kisuke takes off towards his shop with Rukia in tow, he can sense Ichigo following, easily keeping up with the pace Kisuke has set as they shunpo over the suburbs of Karakura.

How interesting. How very, very interesting.