#where the Karakura teens first meet Shiro properly

[akaluan]

Yo! I'm not going to pressure you or anything, but I wonder what will happen if some idiots manage to upset Kaito while within Kisuke's range? How would he react? I know said idiots are going to go through hell.

Okay this isn’t exactly ‘upsetting Kaito’ because I started trying for that and then Shiro happened, but… it’s something! I’ll try for ‘actually upsetting Kaito’ another evening XD (Honestly, this felt pretty good to write, tho; I’ve been in a Mood this evening because of RL, so…)

“—can’t just /trust/ a Hollow like that! It’ll just betray you in the end, because that’s all it understands!” Shinji’s voice rose, echoing through the training ground enough for Kisuke to hear it clearly.

Kisuke froze at the words, hoping /desperately/ that he had heard it all wrong, that Shinji was /not/ insulting Shiro and telling Kaito that one of his beloved spirits was /untrustworthy/.

“Th’fuck you say ‘bout me?” Shiro bit out. “Keep yer fuckin’ idjit opinions t’yerself, bastard.”

The sound of a blade being drawn from its sheath jarred Kisuke out of his disbelief, and he bolted forward. Not bothering to announce his presence, Kisuke simply lashed out, planting his foot in Shinji’s side and sending the Vizard /flying/ across the training ground to smash into a boulder.

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“Fucker,” Kisuke muttered, before he turned to look at Kaito. Or Shiro, rather; the body’s eyes were solidly Hollow amber-and-black, and his stance was more ‘Shiro’ than ‘Kaito’.  “Sorry about him. I thought you weren’t going to be back for another few hours, so I didn’t make him leave.”

Shiro peered at him for a moment, then huffed. “Eh, Grimmjow was more’ve a pussycat t’day than usual. Fucker called it off after only a bit’a sparrin’. Cool kick, though.”

His son paused a moment, then asked in Kaito’s voice, “So why /is/ he here, anyway?”

Kisuke arched an eyebrow and gave his son a pointed look. Kaito had been /relatively/ discrete about his Hollow side, but it was probably one of the worst kept secrets he had ever come across. Kaito, Ichigo, and Shiro were too free with their control, which allowed Kaito’s reiatsu to sway mercurially between Shinigami and Hollow whenever Kaito wasn’t completely in control. And to someone who /didn’t/ know Kaito, it undoubtedly looked like Kaito was wavering along a knife’s edge, constantly on the verge of losing control.

“Yeah, yeah,” Kaito sighed and gave an awkward shrug. “I’m not going to stop doing… this. Letting them have control. I guess I’m a bad Shinigami but—”

“At best, you’re a substitute,” Kisuke finished Kaito’s words with amusement. His son had said that several times, to several different Shinigami, and each time he grew more and more exasperated with the necessity of it. “I know, and I don’t expect you to. They’re not causing any harm,” Kisuke said, raising his voice slightly at the end so that Shinji could more easy catch his words as the man warily walked back to them.

Shinji scoffed. “Not causing any harm? That’s a /Hollow/, Kisuke! They /exist/ to—”

“Finish that sentence, and I’m going to need to apologize to Shiro for denying him a battle,” Kisuke replied, his body settling into a loose stance and his fingers closing more firmly over Benihime’s hilt.

“Why the /hell/ are you defending that thing?!” Shinji pointed at Kaito, fury and disbelief in every line of his body. “After /everything we’ve gone through/—”

“Kaito is not the same as you,” Kisuke snarled, moving to stand between his son and Shinji. “We were /idiots/, Shinji, lost in our panic and haste, but you have had /one hundred years/ to repair your relationship with your blade, and you still have not!”

“Because there’s nothing there to repair!”

“I’m gunna kick yer fuckin’ ass,” Shiro announced, shouldering past Kisuke and glaring at Shinji. “Jes you’n me, bastard, an’ when I /destroy you/, yer gunna call in the rest a’yer idjit club an’ I’ll beat /all a’ya/ inta th’ground!”

Shinji bristled at the threat, knuckles turning white on the hilt of his zanpakutou. “And what will /that/ prove, Hollow?”

“Cause Kaito’n I are gunna work /t’gether/ an’ fuck ya up. Jes th’two a’us!” Shiro eyed Shinji up and down, then scoffed and announced, “We won’t e’en need bankai t’do it, either.”

“And when he’s done with you, I think I’ll take my own turn,” Kisuke promised darkly. “Kaito is my /son/, Shinji, and that means that /all of him/ is my son.”

“You’ve really changed, Kisuke, and not for the better,” Shinji said.

Kisuke released some of the hold he hand on his inner monster and /smiled/ at Shinji, letting the man catch a glimpse of the deadly Onmitsukido member that he had once been. “Why, I think I rather disagree with you on that score. Shiro, please leave me enough to express my displeasure on, will you?”

“A’course, I’ll leave ya a few pieces,” Shiro agreed.

Shinji didn’t have a chance to do more than shoot Kisuke a furious glare, before he was fighting for his life against Shiro. Kisuke bit back his desire to jump in and instead leaned against a boulder and watched. In the back of his head, closer than she had been in a very long time, Benihime hummed in pleasure and whispered dark promises of vengeance.

Kisuke was more than happy to indulge her in this. Shiro was an important piece of his son, and the spirit did everything in his power to /keep/ Kaito sane and stable. That the Vizard could possibly have had such a relationship with their own blades for all these decades, and had not even bothered to /try/… well. Kisuke wasn’t going to defend them.

(He’d been wrong, too, of course. Accepting Shiro as he was was the very least he could do in penance.)