99I DON'T OWN BLEACH.
[SO HOW DOES CURRENT ICHIGO LOOK LIKE? ]
[I noticed I hadn't described how he looked after the time skip of 15 months lol so here it is~]
He still has his normal hairstyle except for his braid which for some reason still stayed the same height, thickness and everything and did not grow at all? Another Easter egg maybe? ; )
(He had argued with Fuku to not cut off his braid when she had called in a barber for the whole clan's haircut lol. Apparently there is a special haircut day for the clan)
Then he wears plain t-shirts ya know, nothing fancy or anything that has to do with designs, he doesn't like it. Just a plain white (or any other solid colour) t-shirt and some dark navy blue ankle length loose pants are enough for him.
He has white bandages wrapped around his head (not the top though) which cover his eyes and forehead. There are also some bandages wrapped around his wrists. They have two small hidden knives in them.
His sandals are his normal shinigami sandals. This was actually the only thing he had been allowed to keep with him after they had taken away his uniform.
His hair colour is still orange haha
His height is now 5'0 instead of 4'4 as you know he grows 1.5 centimetres per month.
[RANT IN THE END; You can ignore it if ya want cause it's not that important.]
Replies in the end too, Ciao~
"Kukaku san?" Ichigo asked as he watched the woman down another cup of sake.
"What brat?" She grumbled as she poured herself another cup.
Ichigo silently observed her, wondering if he should really ask what he was going to. He was kinda bothered by her showing up in his tent in the middle of the night just to sit down and get drunk.
But he also knew he would have to be the one that had to ask this. He was practically her only family now.
Because Ganju had died a month ago.
"What is it brat? Spit it out!"
"Are you okay?"
She paused in mid sip as she stared at the cup on her hand before shaking her head with a chuckle she put down the cup on the small wooden table.
"Look how we have ended up. You are taking care of me instead of me taking care of you. It should be the other way around considering I am older than you. Way older than you. I am the responsible adult here." She said as she crossed her arms and rested her back against the pole holding up the tent.
"Yeah but it doesn't look like I need any help right now. I just . . . I want to make sure you are okay, you know? After what happened with her . . . " He didn't complete, she already knew who he was talking about.
"I maybe kinda out of it brat but I ain't weak like her." She said with a scoff.
Ichigo narrowed his eyes and said,
"She wasn't weak."
Kukaku stared at him before smiling softly as she said,
"Yeah, she wasn't. I am sorry."
There was a tense silence between them as they knew what conversation was going to be held next and both of them didn't like it.
"So, why did you start drinking today? You didn't do that . . . even after the funeral." Ichigo started.
"I can drink whenever I want."
"But the question isn't 'why at all', it's actually 'why today'." Ichigo asked sharply knowing she won't take him seriously if he didn't do that.
"Don't talk to me like that brat-"
Kukaku was cut off by Ichigo as he said,
"Please Kukaku san, Please just tell me because I need to make sure you are okay."
The said woman stared at him with a bit of shock because of how helpless the boy sounded. Ichigo never sounded like that. Not at least in front of her. So she gave him an honest answer . . . but only for today.
"I just wanted to pass over this ya know? Like, I wanted to forget for once. I wanted this thing to be over for some time." She said as she got up and ruffled his hair.
"Forget Ganju? Or the war?" He asked as Kukaku slowly made her way towards the tent's exit.
"I don't know Ichigo. I guess everything." With that she walked out.
And that day he had slept peacefully knowing that Kukaku would be okay.
But he was wrong.
"Ichigo!"
"Ichigo!"
"Damnit Ichigo wake up!"
"Kurosaki! KUROSAKI!"
Ichigo jolted awake with knives in his hands, ready to attack. But visibly relaxed when he saw Shuhei standing over the entrance of the tent.
"What the fuck Shuhei? I was going to throw the knife-" He was cut off as Shuhei grabbed his arm and they ran out with a flashstep.
He didn't say anything and let the guy drag him around because it looked like he was dead set upon showing him something.
But then dread started to settle in his stomach when they neared Kukaku's tent.
"Shuhei what's wron-"
Again Shuhei interrupted him and said,
"You need to see this. Not me."
They stopped directly inside the empty tent and but Ichigo scowled when he noticed how messy it was.
'Does this woman ever clean her room?' He thought.
"Today I came to wake her up because Cyan san was busy and I . . . found this." Shuhei said as he pointed to a small letter on Kukaku's makeshift bed.
Ichigo looked at the paper as if it would jump over and kill him any second. He looked at it as if it was his worst enemy.
"D-Did you look at it?" He asked.
Shuhei looked down and shook his head.
"I wanted to but it was addressed to you. So I ran over and because I had a bad feeling about it . . . " Shuhei trailed off with a half hearted shrug.
Without another word Ichigo picked up the paper and opened it. It was nothing much it just had one sentence in it, someone could have mistaken it for a post it note.
But that one sentence was enough.
"If you are reading this then I am sorry."
-Kukaku Shiba, 32nd Clan Head of the Shiba clan to Ichigo Kurosaki, 33rd Clan Head of the Shiba clan-
'33rd Head of the Shiba clan my ass! Just wait until i-'
"Kurosaki Ichigo."
Shuhei and Ichigo swiftly turned around and saw Cyan Sung standing there solemnly. But the look she held was more terrifying.
He knew that look too well.
He had seen it too many times in this war.
"Kurosaki Ichigo," This time she said it more softly as a lone tear dropped from her eye and she made no attempt to wipe it.
"body of Kukaku Shiba was found at the end of Jōganji river."
She let the information sink in for a few seconds before she quietly added,
"By the looks of it . . . it was suicide."
Ichigo's head shot up as he tried to look around for anything. Anything dangerous. Anything threatening. Anything . . . comforting.
But he was met with only darkness.
'Where the hel-' His fearful thoughts stopped the second he felt something soft brush against his arm.
He didn't attack it, he knew what is was and that it was safe. It was-
"Nozomi?" He heard the fox purr in response as she sat down in his lap with her tail still woven around his arm comfortably.
"It's just you." He said and relaxed as the fear left his body.
"It's just you." He repeated and the sentence held a different meaning this time.
He rested his head back on the cold wooden desk as he thought,
'I shouldn't have fallen asleep in the first place.'
Suddenly he realised that he had actually fallen asleep on the desk instead of his futon and sighed.
He didn't even remember falling asleep. So maybe his body must have been at the brink of exhaustion.
'What time is it anyways?'
He lifted Nozomi up and rested her on his shoulder as he got up and walked over to the verandha door to open it and walk outside.
'It's pretty cold out here . . . I would say it's around 2 AM right now.'
That's when he sensed that something was wrong. Not wrong exactly, but different.
Kukaku, Ganju, Mizu, Kuzu, Fuku and Ikumi were still not back. He couldn't even sense them near the compound's vicinity.
'Weird . . . wait, didn't someone give me a letter before I went to sleep? It was in braille too.'
"P-Please do-don't do this! Spare me-" The servant's cry was stopped short as a knife was thrown into her throat with precision.
Then the knife was surrounded by a dim purple glow which started spreading over the servant's body. Within a span of few seconds she turned into a bright flash of purple light before her body fell forward while the flesh around her skeleton was sucked in like a rasin.
"My my how loud~" The assasin said as he pulled out the slightly purple knife from the dead body and walked out the door.
"Kukaku saaaannnnnn~" Kuzu whined as he pulled on Kukaku's dress.
"What?" She asked, annoyed.
"It's literally past midnight Kukaku san!" Kuzu said as he flailed his smalls arms around.
Mizu nodded enthusiastically as she agreed with her brother and said,
"Ganju is sleeping below a tree at the festival's entrance, Fuku san looks like she is ready to pass out and even me and Kuzu are tired and it's very cold! Can't we just go back?"
Kukaku sighed as she looked back at the main festive grounds and said,
"We could have if Ikumi was done playing around."
Mizu and Kuzu turned their heads towards the playground where Ikumi and several others were dancing and drinking around and the twins glared as hard as they could.
"You know that glaring won't do anything right? I have been asking her to stop for a hour but she just won't listen." Kukaku said.
"T-Then what about Fuku san? Did she try to convince her? Ikumi san usually listens to Fuku san." Kuzu suggested.
Kukaku's eyes widened as she stared at Kuzu like he had just told her the meaning of life.
"Why didn't I think about this earlier?!" She asked, already on her way to where Fuku was standing-sleeping.
"I don't know, maybe because Fuku san looked like she could pass out any second?" Mizu said dryly.
Chiyo, still clad in her nightly yukata held her zanpaktō in her hand tightly as she stared at the man in front of her. She couldn't see much in the dark but the teared up shoji door was letting in enough moonlight to pick up on some things.
The first thing she could tell was that he was trained well even if it clashed with his lazy form. Besides, she knew that no one will send an untrained assasin to the previous head of the Shiba clan
Old or not, she could kill.
"Who are you?" She firmly asked.
"Don't be so cautious woman, you won't even see me again after a few minutes." The man said as he took a single step forward.
"Because you will be dead." He continued.
Even though she couldn't see his face she knew he was smiling underneath his mask. He then proceeded to unsheathe his tantō from the black sheath on his back.
"I am not the best trained one from my group but I am sure I can kill you. Even if I can't, then someone else who is better would do it." He added.
She scoffed.
"Don't take me so lightly boy." She warned.
"Oh don't worry, I won't~"
He took another step forward and that's when everything went into motion.
He had been hoping to get her killed in one shot. Just how he had planned. But it turns out he wasn't fast enough to handle the attacks. He wasn't even able to see them coming.
And three strikes, that's all it took to take the man down.
One over his right kidney, one on his throat and one behind his knee. The man fell down on the ground limply as the tantō landed precisely an inch away from Chiyo's feet.
She then sighed as she said,
"You know, I could have done that by myself-"
She looked up,
"-Ichigo."
The said boy was crouched on the ground, stretching his legs to make sure his kicks were swifter and unlike the ones he had used a few seconds ago. He shrugged and wondered if his original stretching routine wasn't enough for this small body.
"No you couldn't have." He still replied without missing a beat.
The woman scowled, not even fazed by his sudden appearance but definitely irritated at his downplay of her skills.
"Why is that?"
"The trick is to not get sliced by his blade. It absorbs energy from your body basically making you look like a dried rasin. Oh and also dead." He said and picked up the tantō and it's sheath.
"You were planning to get nicked with it just so that you had a clean shot at his neck didn't you?" He asked dismissively.
"A little scratch would have been nothing if it was a normal blade. It's not like I knew what the blade did. How did you know about it anyways?" She asked as she casted a Bakudō that tied the man down completely.
"I saw a dead body but that assasin got away before I knew about him."
"There are more?" She asked, now a little concerned.
"Yes and apparently they are targeting randomly. So I am assuming everyone is in danger." He then threw the sheathed blade towards her as she caught it.
"Keep this blade and this guy here. Don't lose any of them. Make sure he doesn't have any suicide techniques on him." He said as he stretched his arm one last time.
"What are you going to do?" She asked.
"I am going to visit Bunzō sama and tell him about the situation and then I will scout the whole compound." Ichigo asked.
"What if you are just a spy? How do I know you aren't the one who had planned all this?" She asked sharply.
He paused in his musings and turned towards her. For a second he did nothing and she thought he was mocking her decision making capabilities again but then he just went back to work and said,
"You don't. But I don't think you sent that warning letter to me just because you didn't trust me right?"
Chiyo sighed. He wasn't wrong.
She had sent that letter to him because she wanted him to be prepared. She had sensed alot of killer intent around the compound today (because of her Shikai) so she had wanted him and Kaoru to be safe in case something did happen.
Indirectly stating that if she trusted him with the future head of the Shiba clan, she also did trust him as a person.
"Besides," He continued, "I think you can pretty much guess what my intentions are from your shikai."
The way he said shikai made her wince.
"I stopped using it an hour ago."
She was hoping that the little boy would appreciate that she did.
She also wished to dull his own pain because in their last session it had looked like she had struck a nerve which wasn't supposed to be struck.
But it didn't have the desired effect and he just said,
"I didn't have much time to do it myself so can you figure out how that sword actually does what it did?"
The woman scowled at her answer being ignored but she knew she had more important matters.
Even though she knew Ichigo was capable of fighting but for some reason it still irked her that no one else was able to see that in him. Not a single damn person in the whole compound. Not even their trained Shiba fighters. Not even the current head of the clan.
Or they did know but just didn't speak out loud?
But could this boy really protect himself that well or was she just overpraising his skills?
These questions weighed heavily on her mind.
"Well it was pretty obvious what it did. It absorbs reiatsu." She answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Ichigo paused on his way out the door.
"What?"
"It absorbs reiatsu." She stated again but loudly.
"Damnit." Was all Ichigo whispered as he practically vanished from her room.
When she tracked him she sensed that he was running towards his own room instead of Bunzō's like he had originally planned.
But what made her contemplate deeply was the fact that first she had thought that he had flashstepped out of here.
But no, he was just that fast on his feet.
"Guess I won't have to worry about him after all. But it's the aftermath of all this that concerns me the most . . . "
The assassin's eyes held a vicious glint as he stared at the translucent yellow box that was covering the crib. The heir of the Shiba clan and the fox, Nozomi, slept peacefully inside, unaware of the happenings outside.
"Heh, a 'special case'? That brat ran away as soon as he heard that servant yell." He said as he held his knife over the field and it slowly started dissipating, getting absorbed by it.
His smile widened as the Bakudō disappeared completely and Nozomi and Kaoru were now exposed to the cold night air.
Just a second before his knife could touch the baby he heard something behind him. He took a quick step back and turned to look around the room.
"What the-"
"Hey." A voice said.
He turned back around only to have his nose squashed from a well forced punch.
He dropped his knife to get ahold of his broken nose but soon realised his mistake. Ichigo took that opportunity within a second and pushed the heel of his right palm right into the man's solar plexus making the guy fall flat down on the floor. But Ichigo didn't stop there, he then cupped both of his hands and struck the assassin's ears with them, successfully making the man deaf for hours.
Before Ichigo could do anything else he heard something shuffle behind him. He turned around swiftly only to find Nozomi climbing down from the crib. He relaxed his posture and let the fox climb on his shoulder and then went towards the crib.
Kaoru was now awake and was wondering what the small thud from earlier was. His wandering eyes latched onto Ichigo and he giggled which made Ichigo give the baby a small smile of his own.
'Karin used to laugh just like that.' Ichigo thought as he picked the baby up.
He then sighed as he realised that this timeline's soul society didn't have the modern baby slings and he had to make a baby sling himself. It wasn't hard to make but it sure was troublesome.
"Okay now Kaoru, I am going to tie you to my back and hopefully you don't mind. But make sure not to cry and stay silent okay?" Ichigo quietly whispered.
He didn't know if the baby understood or not but he was silent the whole time Ichigo was tying him to his back with the white cloth so he took that as a yes.
He then looked at Nozomi who was on his shoulder and said,
"You should go to the forest Nozomi. I already put a tracking seal on you after that forest incident. I will find you afterwards, okay?"
The fox sniffed the air twice as if she was saying yes and then ran off from the garden door that was teared up when the assassin had entered.
Ichigo was glad that he had actually trained Nozomi a bit because he wouldn't know what to do with her at a time like this. He couldn't carry two on his back. Not yet at least.
He had almost walked out of the room but then sighed again as he picked up the knife that was embedded near his feet and threw it behind him.
Ichigo pretended to not hear the gurgling of blood from the man's throat as he walked out and closed the door.
Sounds of wooden plates being hit loudly rang around the seireitei as all the sleeping shinigami were woken up from their slumber.
Everyone knew what that sound meant. It was a declaration of emergency.
Shunsui groaned as he got up from his bed and walked over to his garden door which he had left open for the night and saw the blue coloured fire works that were currently dominating the sky.
'What in the world-'
"Captain!"
Shunsui turned around and saw Nanao standing there huffing, clearly indicating she had ran over as fast as she could.
And somehow he knew whatever it was, it had something to do with those fireworks and the emergency signal.
"What happened?"
Nanao stood firmly as she relayed the message,
"Those fireworks are made specifically by the Shiba clan and can only be used by their higher authorities. They fire this specific blue one only in emergencies or when they need immediate help."
Shunsui didn't need to be told twice and he was already on his way to another room to get changed. After he was done both of them flashstepped out of squad 8 barracks and were on their way towards squad 1.
Ichigo had been searching all around the compound but was still unable to find where the Shiba guards went. Not only were the outside guards missing but also the ones who 'hide'in the shadows were missing too.
He knew some of them were traitors considering that two from his own room were too.
But he also knew that the loyal ones were alive. He could feel their reiatsu. It's just that someone had made a barrier around them that dissipated their spiritual pressure throughout the compound.
He stopped for a second as he turned behind to check on Kaoru again. The boy looked like he was having the time of his life flying around. Plus the fact that the kid actually laughed whenever Ichigo killed or immobilised the assassins was getting creepy.
He then remembered how all the workers and members had behaved when he had saved them.
-Flashback-
Ichigo huffed as he rested his hands on his knees, tired from running around all this time.
He then 'looked' up to meet the faces of the clan members he had managed to save. Which were many considering he thought that this was how the clan had 'vanished'.
But then he realised something.
He had saved Chiyo from dying because of that tantō.
Chiyo had started the fireworks which in turn woke everyone up.
Everyone waking up caused them to fight against the assassins instead of getting killed in their sleep.
Most were able to handle them because the clan had amazing fighters and some even managed kill their assassins.
The decreased number of assassins made it easy for the clan members to help each other out and survive better.
That was one huge butterfly effect.
He then felt all of their eyes were on him and he sensed something in all of the clan members' reiatsu.
Worry.
Worry for him.
"Ichigo san we can help you ou-'" A man started but Ichigo cut him off quickly.
"No, this will only make it harder for me to fight. Not because you are weak but because it will be hard to move around stealthily with many people." Ichigo explained as politely as he could.
"Bu-"
"I know you guys are worried but don't be. I am actually first going to search for the remaining guards that are locked up somewhere inside the compound so they could help me."
This seemed to relieve them for now as murmurings began to run around with what they could and could not do.
But he was kind of surprised that no one questioned him about how he hid his capabilities. Was he that obvious? Was he that easy to read? Or did he fool only Ikumi, Fuku, Mizu, Kuzu, Bunzō while all the others already kind of knew?
He decided to worry about that later.
"Ichigo, at least give Kaoru to us." A lady pleaded, worried about the child.
The woman who had said that was someone Ichigo knew well. Rika was the one that had been giving him normal clothes since he had started living here.
Ichigo had almost handed Kaoru to her, the baby was inches away from the lady's hands but that was also when he felt it.
Killer intent.
It was so little that it could have been easily dismissed. If he hadn't gone through 9 years of war then maybe he wouldn't have sensed it today.
But Ichigo knew that it wasn't the fact that the amount was little, it was the fact that it was heavily repressed that made him immediately take a step back and snatch away the white bundle before it could even touch the woman's fingers.
"Wha-"
"Listen everyone!" He announced without wasting another second.
The murmurings died down and he said,
"As you know that there were traitors among the Shiba guards. So you couldn't be sure that there weren't any among the normal members."
No one spoke up as they realised what the depth of the situation really was. Someone among them could really be looking for their blood.
"So I am going to take Kaoru with me."
Some started complaining without missing a beat, clearly worried about the future clan head but Ichigo interrupted them by saying,
"If I wanted to then I could have killed Kaoru the second everyone had fallen asleep."
The silence later was deafening.
"So I want you guys to be on guard. Don't accuse each other but just be on guard."
After a minute had passed he heard some hesitant replies but was thankful that all of them had agreed.
He tied Kaoru on his back again and he could almost feel the woman in front of him was sneering with anger at his doing.
So now he was even more sure that she was a traitor.
"Please don't open the door till you hear my voice. I don't want a single one of you to die."
It must have been something to do with his almost pleading tone or how helpless he sounded because after a few seconds of nothing he instantly felt everyone release their warmest and most comforting spiritual pressure possible which was followed by all of them giving him small assurances like "Of course we won't die! We are Shiba!", "You will come back to us alive too!", "Do you think we Shiba are so weak?", "We want you back safe and sound okay? No breaking rules!" and "You will have to come back or else we will have to stay here forever ya know~".
He gave them a smile which made them grin too.
Then he was off.
-Flashback end-
He had told all the Shibas to hide in a single room and the room was none other than the underground emergency escape room that only the royal family knew about.
He knew he shouldn't even know about a place like this but there was no other place safer than that room considering that most of the Shiba guards were traitors.
"Bah bah!" Kaoru suddenly exclaimed.
Ichigo swiftly 'looked' behind and made shushing noises at Kaoru only for him to continue doing that.
"What do you want . . . " Ichigo trailed of as he saw Kaoru reach for one of the closet doors.
"What do you sense there Kaoru? You aren't even supposed to be sensing spiritual pressure at this age." Ichigo whispered but opened the door anyways.
And he was glad he did.
Fuku, Ikumi and Ganju stared at the blue fireworks in horror as Mizu and Kuzu looked at them, worried. The twins were too young to know about this.
"Ikumi san, what's wron- Ah!" Mizu started hesitantly but was cut off as she and Kuzu were picked up by Ganju.
"Wait at least tell us what's wrong you guys!" Kuzu yelled as he squirmed under Ganju's arms.
But they didn't get a response as Ganju, Ikumi and Fuku darted off towards the clan's direction.
It took Ichigo a while to break the kidō barrier. If he had his original spiritual pressure (the one he had at war) then just looking at the darned thing would have broken it down.
But of course he couldn't do that so he had to break the seal the old school way.
He wiped the sweat off his brow as he muttered the spells and his hands worked through the seal's required for the Bakudō but in reverse order.
The guards inside the barrier who were tied down were looking at the boy with anticipation and wonder. They were excited to get out and help but they were also astonished by how the boy was working through the Bakudō spells and seals as if he had done it a thousand times before.
'And the fact that he is doing all this while being blind.' One of the guards thought.
The normal Shiba guards weren't that shocked in his Kidō affinity as they had suspected he must have some kind of hidden knowledge besides Kaidō but the shadow guards were so surprised that it was visible even if they only had their eyes uncovered.
(Kaidō: It's healing kidō but I didn't know that it had a name in the earlier chapters haha)
While he was breaking the barrier Ichigo was deep in his own thoughts.
He was still wondering why did the ones who weren't around him all the time had suspected that he had abilities besides healing Kidō but the ones who were around him all the time didn't suspect anything.
It was so contradictory that it didn't make sense.
Ichigo then turned back and asked,
"How are you holding up Kaoru?"
He didn't expect the boy to reply in anyway but he knew he had to do something for Kaoru because he couldn't even see and being inside a hot closet for the more than 10 minutes wasn't something a baby should go through.
But for some reason Ichigo heard the baby giggle and slap his chubby arms at his face.
"Well you sure are doing good huh?" Ichigo asked, a bit amused.
'There is no way in hell this baby is normal. He doesn't even flinch when I kill someone. Heck he actually laughs?' Ichigo thought grimly as he continued on his work.
Then before anyone could have realised it, the barrier was broken.
The guards and Ichigo sighed in relief as they slumped down on the cold floor for a minute before getting themselves together. Then after sometime all of their ropes and gags were removed and they were free.
"I assume you guys know what is happening?" Ichigo asked.
One of the guard group leaders stepped forward and said,
"We have a vague idea but care to give us a summary?"
Ichigo nodded and said,
"Shiba clan has traitors, mostly soldiers and they are trained assassins. They are stronger than you considering the fact that they jumped you and captured you at the same time."
All of them nodded.
"They were going to wipe out the Shiba clan but Chiyo baachan warned me before something worse could have happened. I helped as many people as I could and now majority of the clan members are at a safe place. There might be some I missed if they decided to hide because they couldn't fight back."
Again all of them nodded.
"We will be getting reinforcements from seireitei soon so all we have to do is take care of the assassins and make sure they don't harm anyone. Stay in pairs, that reduces the chances of someone getting harmed if there are any more traitors and also gives better chances at winning against them. Is this much clear?"
The tone of authority and finality in his voice made all the guards straiten up and reply with a sharp 'Yes!' and after a few seconds they were left wondering why they replied to a kid like that.
"Don't forget to stay away from their weapons at all costs. One small nick from it and you die. It absorbs spiritual pressure completely. I don't know why they are collecting reiatsu but i am sure it's not something good."
The guards tensed, realising that the traitors could have killed them while kidnapping them if they wanted to.
But that raised another question, why didn't they do that in the first place?
"I know what you guys might be thinking and to be honest I don't know either. But right now saving the clan is our priority." Ichigo said firmly and again he was responded with many sharp 'Yes!'.
Ichigo then raised his hand towards the back of his head and pulled on the two long strips of white bandages. Then he undid the knot and let the bandages fall back on the ground.
The guard who was with him when he had visited Unohana on his first day raised an eyebrow at that.
"Ichigo san if I remember correctly then you were told not to remove-" The guard started but Ichigo cut him off and said,
"It's alright, just trust me on this. Even if my eyes bleed it will be fine."
Well that did nothing but make the guard even more worried.
Ichigo then opened his eyes and started using his seeing technique. He was sure he was going to need to use this today.
The guard who had spoken up looked at Ichigo with some sort of sympathy and worry which only intensified when he looked into the child's visible amber eyes.
The eyes were too old. Too worn out.
Something a 10 year old shouldn't have.
They were dull and lifeless. Even the oldest of blind people he had seen had some sort of light in their eyes but this child had nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
He looked around and noticed that the other guards were drawn into the sight too.
Suddenly Kaoru giggled again and their complete attention was brought to the baby instead.
"Ichigo san, what are you going to do?" One of the female guards asked.
"Me? I am going to fight too of course." Ichigo stated blandly as he wrapped the removed bandages around his right ankle.
"What?! Ichigo san you have Kaoru with you and absolutely no fighting experien-"
"Says who?" He asked as he looked at them.
"What do you mea-"
"How do you think I placed majority of the clan at a safe location while assassins were running around the compound?" He asked with light sarcasm.
"You can fight?" She asked, astonished. But her voice was muffled.
Ichigo realised that she must be a shadow guard. They usually only leave their eyes viable to the outside word.
"Yes I can and I can do it better than you." Ichigo replied, sounding mildly offended.
And he wasn't being cocky either. His hand to hand combat skills in his current state might be bad in future war times but it was better than anyone in seireitei right now. Except maybe Yourichi might be on par with him.
But they didn't need to know that.
Some Shiba guards and shadow Shiba guards wanted to scoff but they also knew that they were defeated by the assassins who Ichigo had fought and gotten out without a scratch.
"Fine then, let's say we believe you for a second Ichigo but what about Kaoru? You aren't going to fight with him on your back right?" The lady asked.
"Kaoru stays with me. I don't know if there are any more traitors in the remaining Shiba guards and i am not taking any risks.
"But who said you could-"
"Before Ikumi san left for the festival she had left Kaoru's protection under my command."
"But Ichigo how do we know we can trust you?" The woman retorted.
"Well Kaoru is still alive isn't he?" He said, a bit irritated.
"Yeah but-"
Ichigo suddenly turned towards them and stared at them with his dull brown eyes as he tried his best to not glare. But that sure didn't stop him from releasing heavy killer intent on them.
"I said, Kaoru stays with me. Do I make myself clear? "
The guards felt their mouths dry up and their knees buckle under their own weights but they still somehow knew they were standing. The world just seemed like a void around them that was filled with voices.
Heck they couldn't even look into Ichigo's eyes anymore even while knowing he was blind.
Never in their lives had they experienced killer intent so strong that it could make spiritual pressure look like trash.
"Do i? " Ichigo asked again.
"Cry-Crystal." The woman finally stammered out.
"Good."
And with that, the killer intent was gone and all of them tried to pick themselves back up which they found was a hard task.
Ichigo noticed that and of course had apologized afterwards which made them relax a bit more and soon they were preparing to head out of the closet.
"Hey, do you guys have a weapon? Not as long as a Katana, i won't be able to use stealth but not as short a a tantō too, it doesn't suit me." Ichigo asked suddenly.
Some of them started asking among themselves when suddenly a normal guard stepped ahead and with a wide grin stated,
"I have just the weapon for ya kid!"
"Which squad is responsible for Shiba clan's safety?" Shunsui asked as he pushed more reiatsu into his legs to jump over the roofs faster.
"Squad 10 has been responsible for Shiba clan's safety since the last century." Nanao informed, confused at how Shunsui wouldn't know something like that.
"I see, I thought they might have changed it." Shunsui said thoughtfully as he held his chin.
Nanao raised an eyebrow at that and asked,
"Any specific reason why squad 10 has been their protection for so long or why you thought they might have changed it?"
Shunsui shook his head with a fond smile and said,
"Most squad 10 captains throughout history have been Shibas. The last one was a good friend of mine, Isshin Shiba. But one day that idiot just went missing so his 1st seat was appointed as the captain instead. Poor Toshiro had to deal with him and Matsumoto all together."
"Captain Hitsugaya?" She asked knowingly as they jumped over another roof.
"Yup. Matsumoto was Isshin's lieutenant and is currently Toshiro's lieutenant because Toshiro had a bankai and was pretty much a prodigy but she wasn't." Shunsui said.
"I don't think they would have let her become a captain even with a bankai just because of her drinking habits." Nanao muttered as she remembered all the times Rangiku had showed up at duty piss drunk.
Shunsui chuckled lightly and soon both of them fell silent, knowing that they were worried about the same thing deep inside.
"Captain-"
"I know Nanao. But we can't do anything without old man's orders."
"But still, do you think that . . . "
Was Ichigo okay?
Ichigo came to the conclusion that the situation was, in fact, not okay.
He thrusted the heel of his palm at the guy's chin as the assassin's neck snapped into an uneven angle and he fell down limply.
Ichigo then looked up and sighed as he felt something all too familiar (from his timeline) in Bunzō's reiatsu.
"Oh you have gotta be kidding me . . . " He muttered as he 'stared' at Bunzō.
Bunzō on the other hand was shakily holding his zanpaktō in his hands, pointing it towards Ichigo. His eyes were too wide and he was sweating profusely.
And it was obvious that he was not in control of his body.
"I-I thought that maybe they would leave us a-alone if I let them put that se-seal on me b-but now th-they are attacking us and you are killi-"
"Bunzō sama, I know that whatever I will do now will make you think that it is a threat. But understand when I say that I am on your side. This guy, the one lying in front of you, the one I just killed, was going to attack you. I did not kill someone from the clan, it was an assassin." Ichigo explained calmly but internally he knew that the assassin was probably a traitor too.
But that didn't matter now.
He didn't know what Bunzō was feeling like. He couldn't even see the clan head's face. Even with his seeing eyes he could only make out blue figures and silhouettes.
So he decided to take a step forward just to test the waters.
Well, wrong move.
Without warning Bunzō raised his arms and yelled,
"Hadō 4: Byakurai!"
Ichigo jumped out of the way only for Bunzō to continue firing more Byakurais. It didn't seem to affect Bunzō that the compound was getting completely destroyed because of this.
'He is too out of it.' Ichigo confirmed.
The blasts wouldn't have affected Ichigo too if they weren't attracting any attention. Especially attention from the assassins.
After a few more strikes Ichigo decided that he had enough and said,
"Bakudō 81: Danku."
The big rectangular transparent shield covered his front as he walked forward. He easily pushed behind the aftereffects of using Kidō with his reiatsu less body to the back of his mind. Pain was something he didn't need right now and he had enough practice to know how to discard it.
Bunzō's eyes widened more and more as he saw Ichigo inching closer. He decided to prepare an attack pattern using his zanpaktō but before he could do anything else he heard Ichigo mutter these words,
"Shiba-shi Hanabi Inkan Sanjūni: Kaijō."
The small lavender coloured diamond appeared on Ichigo's forehead, allowing him access his stored spiritual pressure and without wasting another second Ichigo said,
"Bakudō 61: Rikujokoro."
6 bright yellow rods of light connected at Bunzō's waist and held held him in place while also restricting him from using any spiritual attacks.
"Wait-"
"Bakudō 1: Sai!"
Bunzō fell down on the ground, unable to move his body.
"Bakudō 73: Tozansho!"
An inverted and translucent blue pyramid formed around around the head of the Shiba clan as he was lying on the ground, unable to move or use any of his reiatsu.
Ichigo took shallow breaths as he tried to straightened up and coughed as he waved his arms around to get rid of the smoke and dust. Then be looked at his Kidō work with a calculative gaze to make sure it didn't have any weak points.
"I am sorry I had to do this. I am in no position to fight someone as strong as you with my current reiatsu reserves." Ichigo said as he faced the clan head who was looking at him with the same fearful expression.
"Plus, There was no other way to remove that seal off you right now. You would have to stay completely still, which is only possible if you are unconscious." Ichigo added.
Then suddenly he felt his body tense up. He was sensing something under the room's rubble. He looked around the room again with his seeing eyes.
He then sighed.
"I know you are there, come on out." Ichigo muttered into the destroyed room.
Without warning 5 figures dressed just like the other assassins flashstepped into the room.
"This is the 'special kid'? Seriously?" One of them asked.
"Well he is wearing clothes Rika made isn't he?" Other responded.
Ichigo took a mental note that Rika was the one he thought was a traitor too and apparently . . . he wasn't wrong.
So the doubts he first had about Rika's stitching method just for his clothes really had some backbone. Also the fact that she made normal clothes only for him.
'I should have looked more into this . . . but what can I do now anyways.' He thought dismissively.
"And didn't you see what he did? Leave the clothes, looking at his Kidō skills I think we should tread carefully too." Another one said, it was a woman this time.
"Let's just kill him off and run. We failed the mission anyways. The seireitei reinforcements will be here in a while." Other added lazily.
"Well what do you say?" the first one asked and all of them could almost hear the assassin smiling.
Ichigo in turn just shrugged in response as he unsheathed the ninjatō strapped horizontally on the back of his waist. He touched the edge of the blade with his finger and gave a small satisfied smile when he felt blood pool at the fingertip.
'At least it's as sharp as a zanpaktō.' He thought.
"Should we kill you off kid?" The first one asked again.
"I don't know, but I think I can give you a few tries to get the basics down."
REPLIES:
shazza085: You're welcome! : D
Bellator Kurosaki: Hmm well you think just like grandma Chiyo haha XD And man you predicted the fighting part too : ( I guess I will have to fill up some more plot twists ; ) And about Ichigo's style, as you may have noticed I like simplicity and hence Ichigo's style in this story is simple too, plain t-shirts, dark blue loose pants? I know plain but I love it : ( And I prefer Ichigo with short hair (TYBW hair) and I have to keep it short for the plot too as you may have read that braid has some plot to itself ; )
XxxgoblinslayerXD69: Have patience ; ) And his growth isn't that slow, read the note in the start to know how he currently looks like : D
777torn777: Well now you know what happened to the Shiba clan XD
Eternal Love's Eclipse: Aww thank you so much! This is the first time someone has complimented my progression so it's very important to me! And you give correct advice too! Also, I do have a plot so don't worry ; ) If you read all my before/after chapter notes then I have mentioned something about Easter eggs that will help you guess the plot in the future!
Thanks for replying again and tell me if you find any Easter eggs cause not a single person has found any till now haha XD
kevban: Vous êtes les bienvenus! Voici le nouveau chapitre! :) Au fait, ne vous méprenez pas si ce français est faux, j'ai dû utiliser Google Translate haha Je voulais juste essayer ça XD
corjca 1: Dude I don't give a fuck, you just wasted your own time in writing those hate comments ngl
[Rant?/Only important to those who REALLY want Ichigo to gain his powers back.]
I see some of you guys are wondering when Ichigo will go back to his original form. Well you could say . . . I don't know? To be honest I have a story plot in my mind but I change it along the way to make the story better. Like the arc of Ichigo going to Hueco Mundo to kill the half arrancar? That was a decision I had made on spot. But it was necessary one too. How else do you think Ichigo could have gone to Hueco Mundo? With Gotei 13 watching his every move? Hell no.
For now he will not get his complete powers back because what will be the fun if he could just one shot everyone there? He will grow up to his full height after 3 years. One year and 3 months have already passed so he is around 5'0 now! Yes, he is getting back to his original body but slowly.
So those who are worried that Ichigo is staying a kid for so long don't worry. It's just I am kinda lazy so I don't announce every time he gets tall. Plus he will grow tall very fast because of Kisuke's solution which has already been explained in the old chapters.