Chapter Text
Masaki and Isshin had settled into a normal life again over the past year. The girls were amazed at how much of a calming presence their mother was on their father. Ichigo could remember what life was like before and fell happily back into the rhythm of not having to knock sense into his father all the time.
He laughed outright the first time his mother stopped his dad from attacking him. He'd never forget it.
“Isshin, don't you dare!” she'd said with a stern look, “the boy can already lay you out if he wanted. He has your power as well as mine and then some. What is the point of your so called training? If you want to train him do it right. Not sneak attacks that never work!”
His dad had had the decency to look ashamed, of course he'd also looked at Ichigo like the time would come at some point.
“At least if you're going to sneak attack, suppress your spiritual pressure,” Karin said in exasperation. “I know he's bad at sensing the like, but even Ichigo can tell you're coming.”
“Hey! I've gotten better!” Ichigo had responded, but in his mind he acknowledged her point.
Only the friends who knew about soul reapers were aware of what had happened with his mom, so it was easy to explain how she'd reappeared, and the rest of society barely took notice.
All of his mother's closest friends also knew about hollows so it was easy for Masaki to slip back into her old life. The only real difference was instead of taking Ichigo to karate it was Karin to soccer.
Ichigo had found odd how normal everything had become. His father not having to hide from the shinigami anymore and not having to hide them from his parents either meant there was a lot of random foot traffic through their house at odd hours that no one batted an eye at. Even Yuzu could see things now. Their mother had started training her, although Dad had been reluctant, saying she could have a normal life.
Again Masaki had looked at him with exasperation. “Isshin...how many times has she been attacked already? She won't have a normal life merely based on who she is. I mean, really, at this point, she needs to at least be able to see things so she knows there's a threat...or that we aren't all talking to thin air!”
In that regard Ichigo was always amazed at how open and accepting Yuzu was. If Karin or Ichigo ever told her someone was there for dinner, she'd set a plate and smile happily as the food seemed to magically disappear. If what their lives had become was normal for the rest of the family, it had to have been crazy for Yuzu, yet she just carried on like it was all perfectly fine. She was a lot like Orihime in that regard.
Orihime was another regular fixture in life now. His mom and dad had basically let his girlfriend move in. He could remember the speech his father gave him about a woman's “honor.” Well, that wasn't true. He could remember being mortified at 98% of it then it culminating in, “That being said, she has an apartment all to herself which you could use anytime, but I need her help in the clinic and that's much easier if she just stays here.”
Toshiro popped in at least once a month, more when it was soccer season, as Karin kept him as an alternate on her team for injuries or particularly troublesome opponents. “He’s my ace the hole!” she'd say with a particularly evil glint in her eye.
Occasionally Rukia and Renji would come for a visit. Renji had finally gotten It together to confess how much he actually cared about Rukia and they had been dating for a year. In true Rukia fashion, she was putting him through his paces, but despite the whining and complaining, it was one of the reasons he loved her, she kept him grounded. And one of the reasons she loved him back was he took her bull shit in stride. It actually worked out that Orihime was practically living with them, they used her apartment for guests and a special mission crash pad, especially since it had a giant communication system linked to headquarters already installed.
Ichigo was also at university. Studying history and psychology, because as he put it, if he was charged with protecting the world, he might as well know about it and psychology was great for dealing with ghosts who refused to move on.
Don Kanonji was another person who would pop in. After that last big battle with the hollow and Ichigo, his show had kind of jumped the shark, and he never was able to get the child superhero show off the ground, mainly because the kids thought he was ridiculous, so he was making money talking to ghosts for people, like some 2 bit psychic and when he was done he would come to the Kurosaki household with a group of them and let Isshin or Ichigo perform the kansu. Occasionally if they were busy he'd visit Kisuke.
Kisuke and Yoruichi had happily stayed back in the world of the living, despite the many offers to return. As Yoruichi said, their subordinates had it well under control and someone had to be back there to distribute supplies in the living world, as well as train all the spiritually adept people cropping up in Karakura Town after the war with Aizen creating a concentration of reiatsu so strong that anyone with a hint of power was now a full blown something or other.
Masaki, Chad, and Yoruichi worked on isolating what gifts people had received and training them at Urahara's shop if they were interested, respective to their abilities. Needless to say, the quincies had seen a resurgence. Masaki was mindful this time, however, of teaching them of the balance in the universe. Telling them they should try to never kill the hollow, as the soul needed to be taken by the shinigami for the cycle of life and their job was merely reinforcements unless the situation was dire. When she told the story she would always add that she wouldn't be here had a quincy killed the hollow. That seemed to help it sink in.
Chad had opted not to go to university, he'd started a career in amateur boxing. He was a non-profit boxer, as Ichigo liked to say. All his winnings went to charity or charity cases. Chad was probably one of the primary reasons the lights stayed on at both the clinic and the candy shop. Chad said, “You've all done so much for me, it's the least I can do.”
Another reason the lights stayed on in the clinic however was Ryukin. Uryu had discovered in the hospitals books that they paid Isshin and the clinic a monthly stipend as a “satellite location.” Uryu was pre-med with Orihime, as he too was expected to take over the family business. He had long denied he would ever do so, but after a frank talk with his father, he realized the need for someone who understood the deeper spiritual needs of their hometown being in charge of the primary hospital. Even without a war, Karakura Town led in hollow and other spiritual oriented attacks just from being a reiatsu hot spot. He understood his father much better now, and why he spent all hours at work. He was the only one who could sense the pressure from an attack and know how to treat the patient. Ryukin had also changed since Masaki’s return. He seemed lighter with his sister pupil back, even laughing occasionally when she'd tell him a story of Isshin's antics or the girls. And when Uryu would hear her mention “their boys” his heart would seize at his father's small smile in a way that he didn't quite understand. He figured that smile was the closest thing to an “I'm proud of you,” he was ever going to get, and it was good enough.
Hanataro started training Uryu in the more kido related healing, Uryu wasn't particularly adept at it, but he was learning enough to stabilize the patient before he could ship them to the clinic for the more experienced healers to take over. Hanataro and Ganju came to Karakura Town frequently to gather supplies for their new convenience stores. They had 3 locations now. 2 in the rukon and 1 in the seireitei itself.
Now that Ichigo knew his father and Ganju were related it all made much more sense. Ganju and Kukaku were actually much younger than his father, but the gratuitous violence toward loved ones was apparently just how the Shiba clan has shown affection for generations. Although his father had stated the wild boar thing was just Ganju.
Kukaku had beaten his father to a pulp when she'd seen him again. Screaming something about disgracing the Shiba name and how they fell from noble clan status because of him. It concluded with her forgiving him since he had Ichigo and “that boy has been a great source of amusement” she'd noted, rubbing her chin and sitting on his back. “It makes a lot of since why he's an orange haired Kaien now.” she'd concluded helping Isshin up like she wasn't the one who'd just laid him out. Ichigo was still unsure how it had come to that conclusion as Kukaku had had the entire argument with herself while his father flew through the air muttering monosyllables in an attempt to participate in it. But all's well that ends well, right? His mom had just been laughing through the whole thing. Isshin looked at her with utter betrayal at the end of it. She merely smiled sweetly, saying that she knew he was fine and he probably deserved it.
Ichigo was happy. It was a kind of happy he hadn't felt since his mom had been killed. He had his family back and whole again, he wasn't embroiled in some war, and he wasn't hiding a large chunk of his life from 50% of the people in it. It was odd to be out with his friends and say things like “watch my body” or all be talking to a ghost no one around them could see and that be found as common place, but it was what it was, and it was quite a relief, in all actuality.
Tatsuki commented once that it had been ages since she remembered him smiling like he had been recently. He knew that was true. He'd say it had been about 13 years. He still carried the weight of his responsibility and the world sometimes, but with his mom back in their life, he could count on her kind smile or encouraging words to bring him out of it. The burden seemed lighter with her around.
After Toshiro searching for and finding Masaki and hearing the story from Chad about the little boy who'd been looking for his mom, Rukia had started a processing center for new souls, aiming to actually reunite families on the other side, which the 13th division had taken charge of, the issue also something seen as a valid concern by the soft hearted Captain Ukitake. Some souls didn't remember who they were, but others did. They'd reunited about 200 souls so far, including Chad’s little friend, everyone, especially Karin and Chad, was happy to know.
Since they found Orihime’s brother, given their working relationship with soul society, the girl could now visit with him on occasion. As a normal soul, unlike Masaki who was basically at soul reaper level of spiritual pressure upon waking up, he couldn't cross through to their world but he and Orihime were still happy with the arrangement. He'd actually started working at the hollow recovery facility with Toshiro’s grandma. The having been a hollow, while thankfully never actually harming anyone, made him feel a certain responsibility to the victims, some of which were the hollows who had been purified and sent back into the cycle of rebirth.
Another curious thing had happened, speaking of Masaki’s power. She had been offered a position as a soul reaper as well. She'd turned them down. No one really took offense, she was happy training a new generation of quincies and they were happy she had incorporated teaching the universal balance to them. It was however outlined that should she and Isshin have another child it would be a pure soul and expected to go to the academy. To this she readily consented, seeing how much easier life would be for her other children had they had the proper training to start with.
Karin had started training with Uryu, having displayed more of her mother's abilities then her father's. Masaki had quickly realized that she didn't have the fortitude to train her own child. Toshiro was right. She took after her father quite a bit, and trying to control that in training was akin to herding chickens and she'd rather have a decent relationship when it was all over. She had given her her Quincy cross, as once she was a soul, it was no longer of use to her. She had developed a zanpakuto. Whether she accepted the position of a true soul reaper of the 13 court squad guards or not, it didn't change the fact that she had the powers of one. Hyori, and in an ironic twist, Ichigo, were training her how to use her new powers.
Masaki was also quite close to the visord who were helping her train. She seemed particularly attached to Hiyori, or maybe it was the other way around. “listen, dumbass,” the little ball of anger once spat at Ichigo when he'd asked, “I've known your mom since before ya were born and she's always been good ta me. Prolly the first person living or soul ta know who ‘nd what I was and not care ‘tall.”
Ichigo had been gleaning things here and there over the past few years which had made a lot of things click into place. One, he might have been the only one in the world of the living, and honestly most of soul society, to not know who he was. Definitely anyone in the world of the living had known his mother and his father both, as well as Ryukin. Uryu had spoken about whether they should be appalled or not that no one had ever mentioned anything to them. Ichigo had shrugged and said no one probably felt it was their place. It was always a marvel how he could run headlong into danger without a plan but be so pragmatic about most affairs of the heart. It did make more sense as to why everyone had born a certain affinity toward the orange haired boy, even before they got to know him. Either his mother or father or cousins had already endeared them to the boy vicariously.
Well, except Orihime. She had always looked at him like he was amazing and it hadn't been because of anyone other then Ichigo. He'd realized that the night he'd asked her out. It was the realization that precipitated the asking. Shortly after they had graduated, Ichigo was walking Orihime home after a game night at Chad’s. He caught her looking at him with that look of admiration she always gave him when he wasn't looking. She turned red and giggled nervously, looking away. He smiled. No one looked at him like that. Rukia looked at him with reverence sometimes because of his cousin, Joshiro would also watch him occasionally like he was looking into the past. Kisuke looked at him with a since of bemusement that spoke off how much of a product of his parents he was. The visord were loyal to him, which he found out was because they respected his mother. Even Ryukin, while still having a certain disdain for the soul reaper half and powers respected him because of his love for Ichigo’s mom and the begrudging respect he had for his father.
But Orihime hadn't known his parents or some long dead relative. Orihime didn't even know his mother was dead till they were 15. She didn't know his burdens or lineage but she had always loved him, always admired him, always protected him. Not because of some guilt she felt over not being able to protect the person he looked like, just because he was him. He smiled brilliantly at her, probably the first real and true smile of happiness he'd given since his mother’s death, as this had taken place before her return, and taken her hand. Orihime had turned even darker red at the gesture. He stopped her and turned her toward him gently.
“Would you like to, maybe, go out tomorrow? Just you and me?” he'd asked, suddenly feeling terribly shy, also turning red.
Orihime had lost her words but managed to nod vigorously and squeeze his hand by means of answer. Staring at his brilliant smile, she knew she'd achieved everything she'd ever hoped for.
They'd been practically inseparable since then. They'd always been together before, but by inseparable now, it literally meant in continual contact, Karin had pointed out. Save for being in different classes or doing their “jobs” they were always holding hands or sitting practically on top of each other. Once, and what spurred Karin’s observation, was his sister walking in on them studying with Orihime laying on the bed and Ichigo on the floor but with the balls of their opposite feet still pressed together in their relaxed positions. They had conceded the point. Orihime confessing that she “just felt whole” when she was touching him, Ichigo merely smilingly dreamily at her. Karin just rolled her eyes and told them Yuzu had dinner ready.
What was considered their job was also odd. Ichigo did receive a stipend as a substitute soul reaper which came out of the 1st squadron’s budget, now that he had sufficiently proved his worth. And Orihime was on Ryukin’s payroll as an intern at the clinic.
Masaki had assumed her former job as well, she had been a bookkeeper and supply specialist for the hospital and the clinic, finding creative ways to bill insurance companies for their more supernatural treatments.
Everything seemed to be perfect. Which was always concerning, but Ichigo hoped, for once, he'd be wrong about that.