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Chapter Text

All things considered, Yuzu was surprised it took so long for Isshin to go too far and cause Ichigo to snap.

The man had been abusing (because there was no other word for it, and it was definitely no 'training') his son for years, and clearly had very little restraint or common sense. What he saw as gently nudging Karin to the side when she had – rightfully – intervened to stop Isshin's latest harebrained idea to torment Ichi-nii further, her older brother had perceived as someone he didn't trust in the least pointing a weapon in his sister's direction.

Anybody even remotely knowing Ichigo would have guessed that it would end in blood.

So now, all three Kurosaki children were packing, carefully ignoring the cooling, empty corpse laying in the living room, and being mindful not to step in the puddle of blood spreading on the floor. Ichi-nii had said he would call someone to clean up everything, but there was no need to mess the house further by dragging blood all over.

Yuzu supposed that she should feel some kind of sadness at her father's death, but really, there was nothing. Isshin had doted on her and Karin, but any goodwill he might have garnered was lost every time he raised his hand – his fist, his feet, and, once, a chair – against Ichi-nii. Ichi-nii, who had raised them, who had been forced to be the responsible adult of the household at 9, who made sure to attend all their competitions and school fairs, and who always set time aside for them, no matter his own problems.

Was it really surprising that she would side with her beloved brother instead of the man that kept hurting him?

It wasn't shock, either, that prevented her from grieving. Sure, she had seen the whole scene, like Karin had, and had bared witness to her father's last moment on Earth, but she was fine. In fact, a large part of her was relieved that they would leave Isshin's toxic presence sooner than expected, and a smaller, darker part was glad that the man finally got what he deserved from Ichi-nii's hand and that she had been there to see it.

She knew most wouldn't believe that she could harbor such vindictive thoughts, but she was her brother's sister. Ichigo had raised them, so it was to be expected that some of his ruthlessness had passed on to them. Isshin had it coming for a long time and had been warned properly the first and only time he had slapped her. Besides, the man probably wasn't even dead. Or, well, he still existed somewhere (she had no idea what word to use for a Shinigami's demise) and would likely be back soon. Her ability to see ghosts had increased over time, even if they remained a bit blurry, and she was positive she had seen a butterfly escape from the stabbed body. All the more reason to hasten their departure.

Ichi-nii had previously texted two of his friends to help pack, and both had agreed on the spot. Yuzu had thought he would call someone to 'clean up' the corpse next, but the way she saw him hesitate through the kitchen's door, staring at his cellphone nervously, didn't fit. This was something personal.

As smoothly as she could, she got closer to the living room while still packing all her cooking appliances and dishes (thank the gods they had bought all the bags and cardboard boxes a few weeks back, pretexting a school project. Isshin, the moron, hadn't even been suspicious). There was no way they would leave anything of theirs here, so they would pack everything and anything that belonged to them or to their late mother. After what he did to the son she died protecting, Isshin wasn't entitled to her things either. If that left him with only the walls and the furniture, then so be it.

Too bad Karin was upstairs, packing their clothes; she would have liked to be there to see Ichi-nii's oddly skittish behavior. Yuzu couldn't call her, since she was trying her hardest not to show she was spying on their brother.

After a long minute of contemplation, Ichi-nii finally selected something on his phone and pulled it to his ear. It wasn't usual for him to call instead of texting, which proved to Yuzu that something – other than her father's body lying in a pool of blood in the dining room – was going on.

Her brother's voice was too soft and low, and she only had half of the conversation, but she quickly managed to piece the clues together to guess that Ichi-nii was talking to Urahara Kisuke.

She had had only limited contact with the man, but she definitely knew of him.

After the whole debacle with a rogue Shinigami named Aizen, Ichi-nii, recently devoid of powers, had sat Karin and her down to tell them of his adventures. He had refused to share with them before, because he had thought it safer to keep them as uninvolved as possible. The fact that Isshin had formerly been a Shinigami himself of a certain rank if his outfit and power was any indication meant that they were unfortunately (in her brother's opinion) involved no matter what he did, meaning that it was now safer for them to be in the know than to be caught unprepared.

(After the incident with the Fullbringers and Yhwach's invasion, he had also kept them in the loop, especially after he had new information about their mother. One day Isshin would pay dearly for hiding the fact that Ichi-nii's Hollow and Quincy powers came from her; her brother had struggled and suffered needlessly because the older man had not had the guts to face his 'family' and admit the whole truth.)

Anyway, that was when Urahara-san's name had first come up. Despite knowing the man had tricked and used him for his goals, Ichi-nii had told Karin and her to go to him if anything happened and he couldn't handle it, supernatural or not.

That showed how highly her brother though of him. Ichi-nii had little care for his own well-being and safety (due to a mix of being strong and resourceful, of lingering guilt for surviving their mother's murder, and Isshin's constant attacks and belittling), so he had no qualms associating with all kinds of dangerous people, yakuza, Shinigami or Hollows. However, he would never do anything to endanger his sisters. That meant he trusted Urahara Kisuke enough to place their safety in his hands.

When Ichi-nii had lost his powers and Isshin had – once more – shirked his parental duties of keeping the house safe from ghosts, Karin and she had stepped up and went to Urahara-san for help. The man had been surprised to see them, but had nonetheless offered them products to keep the Hollows at bay for free, stating that Ichi-nii had done too much for him to ask for payment from his sisters. She recalled how terribly guilty he had looked behind that fan and the shadow of his bucket hat.

Karin had returned there a few times, but Yuzu hadn't followed her. They never told Ichi-nii about their trips to the shoten either, figuring that since he had seen the protections (they obviously didn't come from Isshin) and hadn't said anything, there was no problem on his side.

Then, Urahara-san had risen even higher in their esteem when he had been the one (the only one) to restore Ichi-nii's power. The Shinigami had been happy to sit on their hands, probably figuring that their former secret weapon was content with his lot in life now that he didn't have their issues to deal with, and that he would likely regain his Zanpakuto when he died, nevermind that some of them were supposed to be his friends and should have known better. The least she thought of how Ichi-nii had lost a part of his soul back then, the better.

Honestly, anybody who claimed to be close to Ichi-nii should know full well how important being able to protect his loved ones was for him. How much staying on the sidelines while his friends faced Hollows and his sisters ensured their house was safe must have been killing him from the inside more than tearing half of his soul apart could ever manage. He was the First Protector down to his very bones, and she sometimes wondered how he had survived those almost two hopeless years of powerlessness.

She hadn't forgiven the Shinigami for their silence, and she knew Karin hadn't either. The way her sister had refused to speak to that white-haired Shinigami boy, even after Ichi-nii's powers had been returned was telling.

So they had both been as grateful to Urahara-san when he had restored their brother's powers as Ichi-nii must have been. They had later learned (from Ururu-chan and Jinta-kun, with whom Karin had stayed in contact) that the man had been working on a way to help his former student since the moment he had become powerless, and that he had spent countless sleepless nights laboring over a way to help.

Truth be told, after the Fullbringers and Yhwach, there had only been three points that Karin and she (and Ichi-nii, although he never admitted it out loud) could honestly hold against Urahara-san.

First, was the way he had manipulated Ichi-nii against Aizen, and sent him in Seireitei without giving him all the elements. But the shopkeeper had genuinely apologized and her brother had long forgiven him by the time the twins had learned of that, so it was hard to hold a grudge.

Second, was the fact that he had known as well as Isshin about their mother's heritage and had chosen to stay quiet, even when Ichi-nii had needed the information. The rational part of her brain realized that he must have felt it to be Isshin's job and privilege to reveal everything, and hadn't wanted to overstep on family matters, but the emotional part hadn't forgotten how gloomy and pained and scared her brother had seemed back when his Hollow (well, his Zanpakuto, but everything was complicated when Ichi-nii was concerned) must have started to manifest itself.

Third and most inexcusable had been how he never did anything to stop Isshin's abuse. Considering that her father and Urahara-san were old acquaintances – old friends, they had thought at the time – and had been instrumental in Ichi-nii's very existence, it had seemed logical that the blond man had known all about it; perhaps he had even been the one to suggest masking training as 'tough love'.

(She despised that idiom, that excuse for all the senseless suffering, guilt and shaming her brother had endured in silence, for the pain Karin and her had suffered watching the person they cared about the most be abused. People turned their heads the other way at those words, saying that Isshin loved Ichi-nii in his own peculiar manner, that it way their way of bonding or that it went both ways. Lies. Kurosaki Isshin had never loved his son, not since his wife died for him, and Ichi-nii never threw the first punch, despite not caring in the least for the older man. This was just a pretense to keep punching for Isshin, and a way to avoid being separated from his sisters for Ichi-nii, even if the cost was to take the beatings. There was no truth, no fairness, no reassurance in that idiom, except for the tormentor and those who refused to see.)

But as it turned out, Urahara-san had known nothing.

When Ichi-nii had returned from his spar with the shopkeeper two months before, he had related their whole talk to the twins. In a way, it made more sense : Urahara-san had seemed genuinely pained by his student's powerlessness when Yuzu had met him. He cared for her brother, even if it had started as manipulation and a way to keep an eye on a rare and useful tool. So if he gave a damn about Ichi-nii, why would he knowingly let Isshin abuse him so, years after his purpose had been fulfilled?

It was also obvious that if Urahara-san cared about Ichi-nii, Ichi-nii cared about Urahara-san's opinion of him. When he had returned from the shoten, two months ago, he had seemed happier. Not all smiles and rainbows – come on, it was Ichi-nii – but remarkably lighter. A weight had been lifted from his chest knowing that the mentor he trusted with his sisters' lives had not allowed or encouraged his abuse. The man had even accepted the darker parts of his soul, the sides he had only ever shown Karin and her for fear of driving away the people he cared about.

Even now, as exhausted as he looked, a ghost of a smile drifted on Ichi-nii's lips as he hung up to open the front door. Yuzu believed it was a good thing : her brother liked to be independent, preferred not to rely on others, but it was good to know that he had someone to lean on that wouldn't judge if he ever needed to. Naturally, Karin and her would always side with him, but they were his sisters, and they were only teenagers. Urahara-san could support him in ways they had no idea how to.

She was drawn from her musings when Ichi-nii called her and Karin.

“Girls, you remember Uryuu and Tatsuki. Guys, this is Karin and Yuzu.” Ichi-nii hastily introduced the two teenagers that she hadn't seen enter. They had already met, if not interacted much. “According to Kisuke, we have at least an hour to have everything packed and moved before Goat Face returns. I already handled all the legal and important documents,” he gestured towards the bag he had begun filling halfway in his phone call. “But there is still a lot to do. Karin, can you and Tatsuki finish with your and Yuzu's room? Uryuu can just shove everything in mine in boxes then help Yuzu finish the kitchen and bathroom. I'll call someone to clean up and I'll look through Goat Face's things for mom's stuff. I know he has some of her belongings in his room and some hidden in the clinic. Once I'm done I'll shunpo the first boxes to our new place. We'll deal with the attic in the end.”

“Where are we going?” Inquired Karin curiously.

“Kisuke has agreed to house us. Bonus is that he has ways to keep Goat Face out of the shop.” There was that elusive smile again. Yuzu also noted that he used the man's given name for the second time, where he had exclusively called him 'Urahara' or 'Getaboshi' before. Behind Ichi-nii, Ishida-san raised an eyebrow as well, but stayed silent.

They split up without complaint. When the walked by the dinning room on their way upstairs, Arisawa-san sent a curious, uneasy and yet slightly satisfied look to Isshin's bloody corpse, while Ishida-san snubbed it completely, apart from taking care not to step in the red puddles.

Yuzu worked fast. They had not bought any bubble wrap to keep the dishes safe, but given that all the boxes would be transported manually one by one, she figured she just had to make sure things were packed as densely as possible.

Ishida-san arrived as she was closing the last box from the now decidedly empty kitchen and was heading for the dining room, where was kept her mother's wedding service, as well as some old plates and cutlery she had inherited. Those dishes were barely ever used, so they were stored separately.

Given the speed with which he had finished packing Ichi-nii's room, Yuzu suspected Ishida-san of using his Quincy abilities and of shoving everything in boxes without concern. Sure, her brother had told him to, but he could have been a little bit more careful with other people's belongings. She sighed to herself as she adjusted the only mug she would not take on the countertop.

It had been a gift from Karin for father's day, some years back. The school had had them decorate a mug with glitter and colorful pens. Neither Yuzu nor Karin had been very enthused by the idea of offering their useless father anything, but they had not complained to keep up appearances (the teachers were already awkward with them when mother's day came, they understandably wanted to compensate with father's day). Yuzu had chosen a simple white mug and had written 'DAD' on it, with no flourish. It had been broken with more tableware four years ago, after Isshin had thrown Ichi-nii on the table while they were still having breakfast. He had gotten shallow cuts on the arms from the shattered porcelain, but hadn't been spared more 'training' for being responsible for the destruction of one of Isshin's few prized proof of his daughters' supposed love.

Karin had been more imaginative with her mug. She had chosen the ugliest green cup, and had had many colorful ideas for the words, but had reluctantly settled for a tame 'USELESS EXCUSE OF A DAD' with an arrow pointing up. Any of her other, cruder suggestions would have been harder to explain, even with the infamous 'Kurosaki tough love'. Isshin had playfully wailed at their mother's poster when he had received it.

Now, Yuzu was delighted to be able to use the ugly cup to send one last message to Isshin by making sure it was one of the first things he saw when he looked through the house.

Ishida-san snorted when he read it. “Nice mug. I should give Ryuken one of those.”

She smiled a bit more sharply than she usually allowed herself to. “I'm sorry, Ishida-san, but this was made by Karin for father's day, not bought.”

He looked at it contemplatively. “That's too much effort for that bastard.” He decided. “You can call me Uryuu, you know. We're... cousins of sorts after all, and that's what you brother calls me.”

Yuzu beamed at him. She had never had any extended family before, even if Ichi-nii had told them that they and Uryuu were probably distantly related, given that they were Quincies and that their mother had been raised by the Ishidas. “Then call me Yuzu and I'll call you Uryuu-nii.”

The teenager looked like he didn't know if he should be affronted of honored by the nickname, so she didn't give him time to decide. “I'm done with the kitchen, let's move to the living room. I'm not leaving mom's heirlooms or wedding service to Isshin.”

They moved quickly, Uryuu-nii showing more care for the antique dishes than he probably showed to Ichi-nii's stuff. “I'm surprised you're not more bothered by that.” He eventually admitted, waving in the general direction of her father's murdered body, which had been pushed in a corner of the room, but refusing to look at it. “No offense, but you seem more... more sensitive that that.”

She shrugged guilelessly. “It's just an empty corpse, it wasn't even a real body to begin with. Besides, this is a clinic, and I've helped around more than once. I've seen more gruesome.”

She could swear she heard him mutter somethings along the lines of 'Kurosaki's sister' under his breath. “I meant the fact that this is your father.” He insisted callously as he dutifully placed a stack of plates in a new box. Her mother had been the last Kurosaki and had inherited a lot of things as a result. If there was so much tableware here, she dreaded to see what was in the attic. She suddenly understood why Ichi-nii had left it for last.

“He's still alive somewhere, Uryuu-nii.” She reminded her cousin. Seeing as he was about to get annoyed at her lack of a real answer, she tackled on. “We were never close, not where it mattered. He attacked and hurt Ichi-nii at every occasion, and never acted like a father to us. Sure, he doted overbearingly on Karin and me, but he never took responsibility for the fact that he had brought us to this world. We were raised and fed and cared for by Ichi-nii, not Isshin, so no, I'm not really upset. He had it coming for a long time.”

“That's... surprisingly pragmatic of you.” Observed Uryuu-nii with a hint of unease. Yuzu ignored it.

Like Ichi-nii, she knew she had a part of that Yhwach guy somewhere in her soul, fused with the rest due to her latent Shinigami side. Uryuu-nii was a pure Quincy, or at least he had no other set of abilities. According to her brother, it meant that the shard of Yhwach that was passed from parent to child in him was mostly separate from his soul, and was 'asleep', with no way of fusing with his soul or manifesting by, say, becoming a Zanpakuto. It gave him his powers, but had no part in his personality or behavior. A parasitic relationship more than a symbiosis.

Karin and she didn't have a Hollow, since the one that had contaminated their mother had passed on to Ichi-nii completely, but they did have an echo of Yhwach in them. Their brother had theorized that if they ever manifested a Zanpakuto, it would likely be a dual one like his, with one blade bearing their Quincy heritage, while the other would be purely Shinigami. He had also implied that their personality might be subtly influenced by the shard of the Quincy King merged with the rest of their soul.

It had never seemed more true than now, when she felt no guilt, distress or sadness while the people around her expected tears and at least a little unease. She would cry watching Bambi or Titanic, or even the ridiculous Christmas shows that were broadcast every year, but her father's temporary death left her completely unaffected, if not a little satisfied. He was bad for them, he had hurt them, he was gone and they needed to leave before he returned. End of the story.

But she didn't need to tell her cousin any of this. For one, he likely wouldn't understand. For two, it would raise questions about Ichi-nii's own morals, and she could never throw her brother under the bus like that. He cared about Uryuu-nii, and she wouldn't be the one to cost him their friendship, and perhaps more friends if word of their 'impairment' went around.

She kept packing in silence, leaving it to Uryuu-nii to start the conversation again if he wanted, which he did after a minute. “At least it'll be one less Shinigami in Karakura.” He eventually declared. “We're more than enough to take care of things here, so we don't need them swarming the place like they usually do. Although-” He stopped his task to look at her. “Your brother seems closer to our resident former Shinigami than before.”

So now he wanted to know more about Ichi-nii's relation with Urahara-san? Yuzu wanted to laugh. She held back, of course. Even if she didn't care about the man, it wasn't proper to laugh in front of a still warm corpse; Ichi-nii had raised her better than that. She couldn't prevent an amused smile, though, as she gingerly lowered crystal glasses one by one in their cardboard box.

“Urahara-san stumbled upon Isshin 'training' Ichi-nii and talked with Onii-san about it. I guess that's why they're closer than before.” And that was all she would say on the topic. Who her brother trusted was no business but his own – and hers and Karin's because they were his sisters and loved him and that gave them rights. Besides, even she didn't know all that much about how they interacted. Uryuu-nii had likely seen them together more than her.

Of course, living in the same house for the foreseeable future (at least until Ichi-nii was old enough to live on his own) would provide plenty of opportunities to observe. She was curious to properly meet the man that her brother had so much faith in. And to check if the suspicion she had about their possible relationship was founded.

Before Uryuu-nii could interrogate her some more, she was saved by Ichi-nii looking through the door. “There you are. Are you done soon? Karin and Tatsuki almost finished the bedroom and I could use some help carrying all those boxes to the shoten. There's more than I expected” He added for Uryuu-nii.

Indeed, between the boxes here and the pile she had left in the kitchen, there was a plenty of work to be done. Since they were quite large, her brother and cousin could only carry them one by one, or maybe two by two if they stacked them. It would take a lot of trips, but only those two could do it since the boxes were heavy and they were the only ones able to move very fast anyway.

“We're almost done. I can finish here on my own and the bathroom won't take long either. You two should start moving the boxes.”

Yes, she was avoiding Uryuu-nii's questions, but her point was valid, and anyway, she didn't have much more information for him. Judging from the pointed look he sent her, her cousin was as aware of her deflection as her. She smiled innocently, earning an incredulous huff.

Ichi-nii looked at the byplay curiously, but decided against prying. Her brother was smart like that, and knew all too well that behind her sweet exterior, Yuzu could sometimes be surprisingly cunning. And vindictive.

Yuzu looked at the scores of boxes and trunks pilled in the attic and wondered how they were going to go through everything before Isshin came back. Packing everything downstairs had taken them over fifty minutes, and they wouldn't risk being there when the man came back.

Hiding at Urahara-san's shop would help in keeping the man off their trail. Firstly, since the two were at first glance on friendly terms, Isshin would not think to look in the shoten, likely imagining that Urahara-san would tell him immediately if he knew where his 'two wonderful and beautiful and adorable' daughters (his words exactly) had hidden. He probably wouldn't ask about Ichi-nii. Secondly, she was under the impression that the shopkeeper would not hesitate a second before lying about their whereabouts to Isshin. The blond man just gave off that kind of vibe. Lastly, like Ichi-nii had told them, there existed special barriers that could prevent specific people from entering, and Urahara-san probably knew them all and more.

Besides, if worst came to worst, Ichi-nii had been confident that the shopkeeper could wipe the floor with Isshin in battle. She trusted her brother's opinion, as well as his own ability to give a good beating to anyone.

The problem was that for all those delightful scenarii to happen, they needed to be settled at the shoten before Isshin returned, which could happen in less than five minutes.

“Screw this.” Grumbled Ichi-nii. Everyone looked at him.

“You're going to leave all this here?” Wondered Arizawa-san, or Tatsuki as she had told the twins to call her.

“No chance in hell.” Replied Ichi-nii, already taking a step towards the mountain of old stuff. “We're going to take all of that with us and sort everything at the shoten.”

“That's a lot of stuff.” Observed Uryuu-nii drably. “He might get back before we're done. Besides, some of this might be his.”

“Doubtful.” Stated Karin. Under their curious stares, she explained. “Goat Face arrived here with nothing, right? And he never went back to get stuff before regaining his powers two year ago, because he couldn't. But all of these boxes are too dusty to have been here less than a decade, at least. Which means they were placed here before Goat Face could have returned to Seireitei to get some of his old stuff, which means everything belonged to mom.”

Tatsuki and Uryuu-nii stared at Karin like they had never seen her before. Of course, since her sister was a bit of a tomboy, and usually preferred their brother's method of 'act first, think later', most people assumed she wasn't very smart. Like they thought the same of Ichi-nii because of his supposed 'delinquent looks' (why couldn't people understand that his hair color was natural when he'd always had it? They never questioned her lighter hair).

With a fond chuckle, Ichi-nii reached his hand to mess Karin's hair. “Nice thinking, Karin. Anyway, before anything, I'm taking you two to the shoten. You should leave too, Tatsuki. Uryuu and I will be able to escape if he arrives early, but you're not as fast.”

The girl looked about to argue before she deflated. “Yeah, I guess you've got a point. And it's not like I'll be of any help anymore. But you'd better keep me updated, you hear?” She pointed a threatening finger at Ichi-nii, who agreed immediately. “Good. See you at school then. Good bye, Yuzu, Karin, it was nice seeing you after so long.”

Once she was gone, Ichi-nii turned to the twins. “Time to get you out of here.” He extended his arms, as for a hug, and the two girls reached back. “Hang on tight. It won't take long, but it can be a bit upsetting for the stomach the first time. Best not to look.”

Yuzu clung to his arm like a lifeline, squashed her curiosity and closed her eyes, guessing accurately that Karin would be too stubborn to do the same. She could report everything to her later if she asked.

Without a warning, she felt her feet leave the ground, and heard the wind whistling around her. She clamped her eyes shut.

A handful of seconds later and it was over. Ichi-nii gently set them down and she looked around her, trying to fend off a slight dizziness. Beside her, Karin looked a shade too green.

If they were at the shoten, it was a part she had never seen before, so this was likely the private area. The boxes they had packed were piled against a wall, and she could see a lot more in the adjacent rooms. The floors and sliding paper doors gave off an old and worn, but also homey feeling. A futon was folded in a corner, next to an empty wardrobe, shelves, a desk and a chair. The room was obviously uninhabited, but ready to welcome someone at any time.

“Ichigo.” Called a semi-familiar voice behind her. She shifted to get a better look at the owner of the place. “I didn't expect you to bring your sisters so soon. I thought you still had the attic to clear.”

Ichi-nii ran a hand through his hair sheepishly. “Yeah, well, there was a lot more in the attic than we expected, so we thought it was best to get the twins here while Uryuu and I bring all the boxes here. We can go through them later. I think you've already met Karin and Yuzu.”

“I have, but only briefly.” The blond smiled at them as he removed his hat in greeting. “It's always a pleasure to see you, Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan. I hope you don't mind me calling you by your first names, but there's going to be a lot of Kurosakis here in the foreseeable future. I'm Urahara Kisuke but you can call me whatever you want.”

“Getaboshi.” Decided Karin aloud. Ichi-nii chuckled softly at her using his nickname for the man, and even Urahara-san looked amused. Honestly, it fit him like a glove, but Yuzu had a little more tact and manners than her sister.

“Thank you for welcoming us here, Urahara-san.” She bowed. “We'll make sure not to bother you.”

He laughed. “Don't worry about that, Yuzu-chan, you're no bother. I owe your family at least that much.” His smile turned more serious at those words, and she had the feeling that he was not counting Isshin in the family.

Ichi-nii coughed to get their attention. “I have to go; Uryuu will have a fit if I leave him alone too long. I'll put the last boxes in the training area.” He added for Urahara-san who raised an eyebrow.

“That many?”

“Yeah.” Huffed Ichi-nii. “And all dusty. I don't want to have more to clean than needed. Anyway, see you later.” And without warning, he vanished from the room, leaving Karin and her in their new home with the shopkeeper.

Chapter Text

“Let me show you your rooms. This is your brother's but I made sure that yours would be beside his. Feel free to decorate them to your liking.”

As he guided them to their new bedrooms, Kisuke smiled at the two girls in what he hoped was a warm and welcoming way, but he wasn't sure he was pulling it off well. He'd been told several times that his supposedly warm smile came off as unsettling and fishy. The twins were staring at him intensely, reminding him starkly of Ichigo in his more suspicious moods.

“Ururu and Jinta have been warned of your arrival, but I asked them to give you some time to settle in before assaulting you. They were very excited to have you over.” Understatement of the century. While Ururu had looked happy at the idea of other girls and people to fuss over, Jinta's face had lightened up when he heard that Yuzu-chan would be living in the same house.

Given the way it had soured at the reminder of Ichigo's presence, Kisuke had a feeling the red-haired boy's intentions were not completely innocent. He was kind of looking forward to how Big Brother Ichigo would deal with that crush on his little sister. In any case, he was positive that Jinta would never do anything untoward with Yuzu-chan.

“If you have any questions or requests, you can ask me or Tessai at any time. We all really hope for you three to feel at home here.”

Still no answer. Had he been a regular human, or a younger Shinigami, he would have felt seriously uncomfortable under such silent scrutiny. As it was, he shrugged it off and kept smiling.

“The third room to your left is a bathroom. Your bathroom, since everybody else here uses different ones, so feel free to use it at your convenience.” Perks of having a mad scientist and a kido master in the same house – expanding space was laughingly easy. “If you have no questions at the moment, I'd like to return to my work.” He trailed off. No need to mention that said work involved making sure Isshin couldn't get through the barriers around the shop without an invitation once he raised them and altering the current protections so they would disperse Ichigo's and his sisters' very distinctive reiatsu, making them untraceable.

The bumbling fool would likely try to get his daughters back, resorting to kidnapping if they refused to come willingly. Ichigo wouldn't let that be, but there was no guessing how much damage an enraged carrot-top could do to Karakura if he had to slaughter his father on the way. The boy was not known for being able to hold back at the best of times...

So best have as many protections in place before the unavoidable confrontation took place. He liked to keep his shoten standing.

For the next half-an-hour, Kisuke worked on perfecting the barriers around the shoten. All the while, he distantly kept track of his new housemates. Ururu and Jinta had held all of ten minutes before checking on Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan, under Tessai's surveillance. From what he could gather out of their reiatsu, the children were having fun. He had feared for a bit that the twins would be distraught by their father's abrupt 'death', but he couldn't detect a single wisp of grief in them. They probably took more after their brother than from Isshin then. Kisuke was awful relieved – he would have done his best to be cordial with them either way, but Isshin's theatrics were a bit too much...

Meanwhile, he felt Ichigo and Ishida-kun going back and forth from the Kurosaki house to his training grounds. Just how many boxes were there in that attic? The two boys were fast, and yet they were still at it. Judging by the number of back-and-forth there should have been more boxes than the entire house should have been able to hold.

Maybe that was a Quincy trick? Masaki had been a fully trained Quincy after all, compared to Ishida-kun, whose father had flunked the learning on purpose, or Ichigo, who had no Quincy training to speak of (he was fairly sure that the hybrid didn't even know how to turn off his instinctive Blut). It had already been proved with Ywach's little trick to hide his realm that Quincies could manipulate space to some extent, maybe it was more common that he had supposed.

It was the only explanation he could think of for all the comings-and-goings of the two boys. He would have to find the time to investigate that phenomenon later...

At long last, he felt Ishida-kun and Ichigo bring a final load. The hybrid went to his sisters, and returned with them to the training grounds.

Kisuke took a look at the barriers he had been tinkering. They would work well enough for now; surely he could take a break. If he happened to indulge his curiosity at the same time, well- happy coincidences happened, right?

He walked to the trapdoor, and paused when he saw the actual mountain of cardboard boxes, chests and crates stacked in his training room. Masaki had been the last of her name, and he remembered her saying she had inherited a lot of stuff as a result, but this was ridiculous.

At least his theory about Quincies tampering with space was confirmed now. He could have filled the Kurosaki house three times over from top to bottom with all those boxes and still have more.

He joined the Kurosaki children, Ishida-kun and his own two wards on the dirt ground. They were contemplating the small cardboard, wood and metal hill with trepidation.

“That's a lot of stuff.” Mumbled Jinta with dazed disbelief.

“Yeah, I didn't realize we had that much in our attic. Wonder how it all fit in there.” Replied Karin-chan, eyes trained on the impossible stack.

“Space expansion.” Relied Ishida-kun distractedly. “I saw something similar in Ywach's realm. I imagine your mother knew how to do it too. The trunks and chests were hidden behind the boxes.”

The first one to blink out of her panicked dazed was Yuzu-chan. She rolled up her sleeves and turned to them. “Let's get this done!”

Kisuke had first planned to leave and let the Kurosakis sort through everything – this was after all their mother's belongings, and should normally be handled privately. However, given the sheer amount of stuff to wade through, it would be cruel to leave them at it.

“Do you- do you want us to help?” Inquired Ishida-kun as he shakily replaced his glasses.

The three siblings shared a glance, and Ichigo replied. “Yeah, we would be grateful for any help. Just- I don't know... put anything that looks like it might belong to Goat-Face there, anything that looks interesting there, and anything else over there. We'll do a more thorough sorting later. But first thing first, let's deal with that.” He waved the rolled up poster he must have been holding since Kisuke arrived with a sneer.

He immediately recognized the poster of Masaki that Isshin had hanged soon after her death, the one he spoke to and wailed at. “What are you going to do with that.”

“Burn it.” Replied Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan at the same time, the same grimace of distaste as their brother's on their face. They looked remarkably alike that way.

“You don't want to keep it?!” Ishida-kun sounded as surprised as Kisuke felt. This was a portrait of their mother, and he remembered how much the siblings had loved her.

“We have other pictures of her.” Supplied Karin-chan with a disgusted shake of her head and a glare towards the poster. “This one was Goat-Face's photo. He's the one that wanted to hang this ridiculous picture and talk to it like Mom was still there. He kept justifying his treatment of Ichi-nii to it...” She trailed off angrily.

“It's not our Mom on the photo.”Added Yuzu-chan. Her tone was softer, but her eyes burned with the same fury as her sister. Fiery tempers, all of them, even if some disguised it better, and fierce protective instincts. “It's Isshin's Masaki. This poster has no sentimental value to us. No positive one at least, but we won't leave it to Isshin either.”

“... I can start a fire.” Offered Tessai, ever the practical one. Good, because Kisuke was still at a loss about what to say. Whenever he though he had the Kurosaki children pegged, they managed to surprise him again.

His coworker obligingly cast a simplified kido at the ground, resulting in a mimicry of a campfire. It seemed to satisfy the siblings. They nodded in thanks at the kido master and Ichigo threw the poster in without ceremony or a second glance. Kisuke supposed it made sense : they were not practicing a ritual to cleanse an item that was cursed. They were destroying trash, simple as that.

With no further ado, they turned to the mountain of boxes.

Karin exchanged what seemed like her hundredth covert glance with her sister since they had started sorting their Mom's belongings, and the fiftieth with Uryuu-nii.

It wasn't the content of the countless boxes that had her share knowing looks with Yuzu, although they had so far unearthed quite a lot of curiosities. A seemingly endless supply of books, in all kinds of languages and alphabets, some she couldn't even identify, and a staggering number of clothes hailing from all kinds of eras and countries (Yuzu and Ururu had looked especially delighted by the fairy-tale-princess dresses they had found, while Uryuu-nii looked more interested by the Renaissance garbs). There were also a lot more antic dishes than what they had previously packed, and plenty of everyday items from ages past that had somehow found their way in their attic. At the bottom of most chests so far, they also discovered all kinds of coins and currency, and a handful of jewelry.

Everything was remarkably well preserved. Maybe a side-effect of the space whatchamacallit that allowed it all to fit in their house.

But more interesting than all that was the way Ichi-nii and Getaboshi interacted.

It had started innocently enough. Ichi-nii had asked if the shopkeeper had felt Goat-Face returning to Karakura, despite not encountering him while they emptied the house, Getaboshi had replied that he hadn't. Ichi-nii had wondered why the idiot hadn't returned yet, and Getaboshi had surmised that something must have held him up, whether an issue in his way to Seireitei, or a meeting with an acquaintance that could have distracted him. Goat-Face had the attention span of a three-year-old on a sugar high, so both were possible.

Good riddance anyway. She was sure the moron would be back soon enough, in true cockroach fashion.

But then they had started on light banter. Nothing really incriminating either, just things like saying one particularly ugly outfit would go well with Ichi-nii's shade of hair, or remarking that some of the books looked even older than Getaboshi. Playful jibes that set a background noise to their work and lightened the mood. It stayed almost solely between the two of them, though, and that had been the beginning of Karin's covert looks with her sister and cousin.

Next thing she knew, they were comparing their findings and competing on who had the most ridiculous china, or who discovered the most exotic clothes. From there, it devolved into Ichi-nii trying to find a book in a language Getaboshi couldn't read, and then into one he couldn't even identify (the scientist knew a staggering number of languages, Karin supposed he hadn't been idle since he was exiled the the world of the living).

Of course, to check if he recognized the language, Getaboshi had to look at the books Ichi-nii pulled out, which led him to stand closer and closer to the carrot-top. They had kept some distance between each other as they began, to have the place to pull out every thing out of their respective boxes, but by now, the shopkeeper was leaning over Ichi-nii's shoulder, who sat on the ground next to a trunk overflowing with ancient books and scrolls.

Ichi-nii was particular about his personal space. Yuzu and her had no restriction, but they were the only ones with such privileges, or at least they had though so until now.

Years of abuse and surprise attacks from Goat-Face had conditioned their brother to be wary of anything at his back, even people he knew. She had seen him with Chad, and Ichi-nii always shifted so that the gentle giant was at his side or in front of him, and she knew her brother trusted him implicitly. She had no doubt it was the same with all his other acquaintances.

Yet here he was, with Getaboshi actually looming over him, and still jibing him about his outdated wardrobe. Huh...

Maybe Yuzu's theories were not as outlandish as she had thought. There was definitely something there, and judging from Uryu-nii's baffled glances, it was new. Probably since Getaboshi and Ichi-nii had that talk about Goat-Face's handling of his children, and said children's unusual quirks.

She resolved to keep an eye on that development from a distance for now, just to be kept in the loop.

Two hours or so later (the mountain of old stuff had barely been dented – this would take days, and she was feeling optimistic there), Ichi-nii opened a chest filled to the brim with old Shakespeare books.

Oh gods.

What followed was a two-and-a-half hour long debate on what made Shakespeare so great and how he depicted personalities so well, and how his comedies were as great as his tragedies, and how his works were still relatable and modern, and how...

Ugh, why did her brother have to be such a Shakespeare nerd? He was strangely knowledgeable about old European literature (to the great shock of all his English and literature teachers, because with died hair and a scowl like that, of course he was an illiterate and uncultured punk). By her side, Yuzu shared her long-suffering annoyance, Uryuu-nii looked just as bored (he must have already known, being in the same class), Tessai didn't even react, Ururu looked up, and then went back to sorting, and Jinta looked completely puzzled. Apparently, he worked under the same assumption as most people that Ichi-nii was only a stupid delinquent. Idiot.

Yet there was one person who looked delighted by Ichi-nii's rant. Getaboshi's eyes were twinkling under the brim of his hat, and then the suicidal idiot actually asked questions and gave his own opinion, giving more momentum to Ichi-nii, who she knew never had anyone willing to speak about his favored topic. Soon enough, the two were engaged in a passionate debate about the merits of Shakespeare's plays and whatever else – Karin was not listening, she was thunderstruck.

Getaboshi knew about old European literature, and obviously liked to talk about it. She and Yuzu were now stuck with two Shakespeare nerds, who were looking at each other with love-struck eyes, but apparently didn't even realize it because Ichi-nii was dense, and apparently, Getaboshi didn't do emotions all that well.

Karin looked at her sister, and saw the same horrified realization reflected in her eyes, even as Uryuu-nii looked at them, and Jinta and Ururu with pity.

They were doomed.

Behind the children, Tessai looked at his boss and Ichigo-san unknowingly flirting. He knew Kisuke-dono had been worried about the teenager for a few weeks now, although he didn't know why (the scientist kept more secrets than he sold candy, but Tessai had not been living and working with him for over a century for nothing. He had learned to read his boss quite accurately).

He had realized that his boss' interest in Ichigo-san was beyond friendly or even on between a student and his master since the boy lost his powers against Aizen and Kisuke-dono worked tirelessly – and secretly – to return them. The shopkeeper had tried to pretend that glowing blade of his was a mere side-project, but as his long-time coworker – and caretaker, because the blond's lifestyle was atrocious – Tessai had personally witnessed the countless hours of calculations, several discarded ideas, plenty failed attempts and the many, many, sleepless nights toiling over his theories.

Kisuke-dono had been obsessed with restoring Ichigo-san's powers. The teenager was also the only individual to Tessai's knowledge that his boss had ever apologized to. At that point, he had believed that Kisuke-dono had taken a paternal interest in his erstwhile student. Perhaps that had been true at the time...

But then the Quincy had struck. The tiny but heartfelt smile Kisuke-dono had sported when Ichigo-san had asked him to hold on until he arrived had definitely not been paternal.

He had assumed that his boss would not understand his own feelings before Ichigo-san was legal in the Human World. Kisuke-dono was undoubtedly a genius, but despite that – or maybe because of that – he was not adept at reading his own heart. His past in the Onmitsukido had taught him to be emotionless, and the training still lingered in his life. He was all too used to ignoring his feelings.

Ichigo-san had already done wonders on that front. The teenagers had unknowingly pushed Kisuke-dono to admit to his feelings of guilt, which was much more than anyone else had done so far. From there, the scientist had been unwittingly more open about his facial expressions. Small, fond smiles had replaced the empty stretches of his lips. His hat and fan couldn't quite hide the amused or angry glint in his eyes.

Most of those were aimed at Ichigo-san, or thrown on his behalf.

And now, the two would be living under the same roof. They were already flirting, although from how dense they could be, they didn't realize it was flirting. At least it meant that his boss wouldn't act on his feelings before Ichigo-san turned 18. It was terribly young on Soul Society standards, but this was the Living World, and the teenager had lived enough horrors to not be treated as a child.

At the rate they were going, they might actually need a helping hand to get anywhere before the turning of the next century. Or the one after. Or the one after that.

Tessai would probably have allies in Ichigo-san's little sisters. From the horrified looks on their faces, they had realized what was happening before them. If they loved their brother even a fraction of how much their brother loved them, they would know that this possible relation could only be positive for the hybrid.

(Tessai had seen enough training sessions between Kisuke-dono and Ichigo-san to see that the teenager had the same bloodlust as his teacher. They both loved to go all out, and would never be able to get in a serious relation with someone who didn't share that fondness. The young man was also among the rare, very rare few willing to tolerate Kisuke-dono's ramblings, and sometimes take part in them. They were both a bit ill-adjusted to the rest of the world, but they were definitely good for each other. They completed each other and lessened each other's faults.)

He didn't really care about the age gap. Shinigami weddings often involved people with wide differences in age due to how long they lived, and he wasn't only thinking of political weddings. Despite his physical age, Ichigo-san was not really a teenager in the regular, careless sense anyway.

He made a mental note to arrange for the two to have some time alone every now and then. With all he would have to adapt with the arrival of three new housemates, it wouldn't be too hard to find ways to distract young Yuzu-san and Karin-san.

Yoruichi-dono would also love to help once he told her of this new development, even if her brand of help would involve more mischievous baiting and convenient awkward situations (he made a mental note to check that all cupboards in the shoten couldn't be opened from the inside).

A thought to ponder on later. In the meanwhile he announced to the still gaping children and Ishida-san that it was about time for dinner, and he could use the help cooking. They were all tired of sorting through the boxes, and witnessing the most convoluted and Shakespearian flirting ever, so the five of them followed him to the kitchen without complaint (even Jinta, who usually abhorred cooking. Yuzu-san might have been enough incentive...).

They left the Kisuke-dono and Ichigo-san to their heated debate. The two hadn't even heard him.

Chapter Text

They went back to sorting through the mountain of boxes after eating, but unanimously decided to stop after one more hour of work. Ichigo didn't mind; with the sheer amount of belongings they had to sift through, it would take them weeks to finish the first, basic sorting, let alone the more thorough combing they had planned. Better pace themselves.

(He was also aware that the whole day had been rather taxing, and that his little spiel about the greatness of Shakespeare's works got on his sisters' nerves. But who could blame him? An early edition of the entirety of his favorite author's plays was an amazing discovery; finding out that Kisuke was willing to debate about them was even better. Nobody ever wanted to indulge his fascination for Shakespearian plays or European literature...)

After wishing a good night to his new housemates and escorting Uryuu out, he joined his sisters back in the corridor that Kisuke had assigned to them. The twins were perfectly able to take care of themselves, but it soothed his frayed big brother nerves to be there to ensure they settled in their new environment without a hitch.

They all had furnished, individual rooms, which was very thoughtful on Kisuke's part. Even at home, Karin and Yuzu had been forced to share the same space, and while they repeatedly assured him that they didn't mind, he also knew that they were old enough to enjoy the privacy.

It took some time to unearth pajamas and toiletries from their hastily packed belongings (none of the boxes were marked, and neither had they been stacked according to their location), but they managed and were soon showered, dust-free and ready to sleep the events of the day off.

Ichigo easily drifted into slumber. He and his sisters were safe and Isshin wouldn't be able to reach them in the shoten, whenever the idiot decided to come back.

Waking up the following morning was a very pleasant experience: no screaming moron attempting to dropkick him or drive his pointy elbow in his stomach. How refreshing!

He dressed up quickly, and went to check on the girls. Karin was still sound asleep, but Yuzu was not in her room. He wasn't surprised – she had always been an early-riser.

Nonetheless, he went in search of his wayward sister, just to be sure.

As expected, he found her in the kitchen, chatting happily with Tessai about their respective recipes over the breakfast they were both preparing. Ichigo greeted them both – Tessai with a nod, Yuzu by gently ruffling her hair and ignoring her playful pout – and went to set the table. His sister had never liked his boorish self meddling in her cooking.

Ururu arrived while he was pondering the merits of opening ever cupboard to find the plates and helpfully showed him the location of all the tableware. If he was to live here for the foreseeable future, he was going to pull his own weight and help with the domestic chores. Never would he rely on his hosts' kindness and loaf about.

He wasn't Renji.

Karin stumbled in the dinning room soon after, likely drawn in by the delicious scent of breakfast; she had never been a morning person, unlike her sister, and wouldn't be a functioning human being until she was fed and had finished the micro-nap she had already started on the table. Most of the time, she was at least able to appear alert in the morning, but yesterday must have worn her out.

Ichigo was in the process of making sure she wouldn't wake with a crick in her neck when Kisuke entered the room, Jinta on his heels.

“Good morning!” Greeted the shopkeeper with obnoxious cheer, but the dark pockets under his eyes told another story: the man hadn't slept at all. Honestly, people kept jibbing Ichigo about the damage he took when fighting, but he was positive Kisuke's lifestyle as a whole was much more destructive than a couple wounds that now mostly healed themselves. Blessed be high-speed regeneration. “I finished the barriers last night; Isshin won't be able to sense you while you stay in the shoten, and I can prevent him from entering at any time. I would advise against leaving until the situation is solved, though.”

Karin had slept through the whole greeting (she could sleep through an earthquake when she was like that – only food could get her to open her eyes), so Ichigo replied for them both. “Thanks, Kisuke. I should send word to our school that we're not going to be able to attend for a while. Maybe we all caught a nasty flu or something.”

He was starting to wish Goat-Face showed up sooner rather than later, if only so they could resume their normal lives instead of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Ichigo could deal with Isshin if he ambushed him, but the twins would be helpless, and so they would have to stay together for now, education and social life be damned.

At least the humongous pile of boxes in the basement would keep them occupied for a long time. They had spent hours on it yesterday and he could barely tell the difference.

If only he'd been able to access the attic as a child, when Mom had died and Goat-Face had proven how unsuitable he was for fatherhood. Instead of scraping together all the loose change they could find in the house and then go looking for illegal work in the disreputable parts of town, they could have collected some of the golden coins and jewelry forgotten at the bottom of plenty of chests and lived a comfortable life. Unfortunately, they had had neither the reach nor the strength to lower the sliding ladder to the attic, and there had probably been kido or Quincy tricks that prevented kids from entering anyway. Goat-Face might have had no clue about child safety, but Mom had not been so air-headed.

Kisuke sat next to him and proceeded to doze off with his eyes in the distance (he must have been really exhausted, because he kept swaying towards him and lightly bumping shoulders. Ichigo let him be, the man deserved his rest and the blond head pillowed on his shoulder was comfortably warm), while Jinta sat beside Ururu and peered into the kitchen.

That little brat wasn't ogling Yuzu's chest, was he?

Luckily for the boy's health, his younger sister and Tessai were done and they all ate breakfast without any peeping punk losing an eye in an improvised surgical operation with cutlery. He got glared at the whole time, though.

With nothing better to do, they continued their sorting.

Uryuu had called to apologize for not coming, but the weekend was over and he couldn't afford to skip lessons after the many days they had both missed this year. Ichigo understood, and asked if he could explain the situation to their friends; he would be happy to get into details in person, but for now he couldn't leave the girls alone, not with Goat-Face still unaccounted for.

The Quincy grumbled – when did he not? – but relented.

Tessai was busy manning the shop (that apparently actually saw normal human customers from time to time. Who would have thought?) and Ururu and Jinta had school, leaving him, the twins and a volunteering Kisuke to work on the mountain of boxes.

The horrified look the girls threw him when he told them so was really unwarranted. They couldn't expect others to always help them, could they? They had their own life to deal with.

At first it was much the same as yesterday. Lots of outdated junk, many books (the Shakespeare collection had been taken to his room already and reverently placed on an otherwise empty bookshelf) and a few devices so ancient that he couldn't identify their uses and had to ask Kisuke. The scientist almost always had an answer, although Ichigo suspected him of sometimes making them up. What would be the point of a machine that turned any random leaves and berries, including poisonous ones, into tea?

The first actually interesting discovery of the day was made when Yuzu opened a chest and found it filled with Quincy jewelry. Silver crosses on necklaces, bracelets, rings, hair ornaments... He had thought Uryuu to be a tad obsessed with putting crosses on all his clothes, but it seemed to be a genetic disorder.

(Now that he though about it, didn't his mother also wear several dresses and shirts with cross patterns? He couldn't quite remember how she dressed exactly, and Goat-Face had gotten rid all her clothes after her death.)

They put that chest to the side to be looked at later. Karin and Yuzu had once expressed interest in learning how to properly defend themselves against Hollows and incorporeal threats,but had been met with a dead-end. Shinigami techniques were impossible for the living (no way was Ichigo allowing Kisuke to subject them to the 'Shattered Shaft' madness no matter how much he trusted the scientist), Hollow moves were out and they had shown absolutely no disposition for the few Fullbringer tricks Ichigo could recall; mom had not been attacked by a Hollow while they were in the womb and her own Hollow issues had been completely transferred to her son upon his birth. The twins didn't have the necessary background to become Fullbringers.

That left Quincy methods, which, unfortunately, relied on mediums. They had found none when looking through Mom's things (it had not occurred to them to look in the attic at the time, another proof that some protections must have been installed and likely relied on Isshin's continued presence) and Ichigo's discreet inquiries to Uryuu yielded no result. His cousin's cross had been gifted to him by his grandfather and he had no idea where to find or how to craft another one. He had promised to look, but had returned empty-handed. Ryuken had cleared his house of any Quincy items a long time ago.

But with the crosses they just found, they might be able to get started on Quincy training now. The girls wouldn't be able to take on the likes of Goat-Face any time soon (for all that he was a lazy moron, he had once been a captain), but maybe one day...

They soon unearthed more Quincy paraphernalia and books – in Japanese and other languages – that explained how to use them.

“What are you looking for?” Wondered Yuzu when she saw Ichigo skim through an ancient-looking book on basic Quincy techniques. It was written in old English, but his days perusing Shakespeare originals were proving useful. Ha!

“Hm?” He raised his head. “Oh, just wondering if there are any instructions on how to turn Blut off. Ossan refuses to teach me on the basis that I keep getting into fights and I need the protection. It's annoying – anytime a random punk gets a lucky hit, Blut Vene activates. I've been able to hide it so far, but I can't keep wearing long-sleeved T-shirts all my life...”

As if on cue, Shiro's demented cackles ringed in his head, and he could feel Ossan radiating smugness. He loved his Zanpakuto spirits, and they tended to stay mercifully quiet when he was in his body, but Zangetsu was and always would be a menace and a hassle. Both of them.

His sisters didn't look very sympathetic to his plea. Karin snickered in a very undignified way and Yuzu suddenly looked extremely interested in the crate before her, so much that she felt compelled to bury her head in it, even if it didn't hide her shaking shoulders. Traitors.

Kisuke chuckled, but Ichigo hadn't expected better from him. He ignored them all, put the book and the trunk it came from aside for later perusal and opened the next chest.

It was filled with old toys. Hand-made Quincy toys, probably, given the amount of cartoonish stuffed Hollow plushes, white clad action figures with capes and crosses (again, crosses everywhere, what the fuck?) and kid-sized wooden bows with frayed strings and chipped silvery paint.

In some slightly disturbing way, it was kind of cute. He decided to keep them.

At the very bottom of the chest were board games. Some he recognized (with the traditional Quincy variant; the more he found, the more he believed crosses to be a genetic disorder), some he didn't. An elaborate chess set caught his eye.

The white pieces were Hollows, the shape of the masks supposedly showing what kind of piece they were, completed by a drawing on the base. They were all well made and distinct – Ichigo would have bet they had been carved and painted by hand.

The black pieces were Shinigami, hilariously enough. Moreover, he was positive he recognized some of them: the king sported a familiar beard even if was black and not white, a gnarled cane and stern gaze while the queen reminded him alarmingly of a feral Unohana. Two of the pawns looked like a younger Kyoraku and Ukitake.

There was no Quincy side, but Ichigo supposed that made sense. If half the pieces were Quincies, then there would have always been the risk of them losing, and that would have been unthinkable.

But Hollows and Shinigami being destroyed? A win no matter what.

He must have spent longer than he realized observing the chess set, because Kisuke had gotten closer. “What have you found?”

“This.” Replied Ichigo with a tiny grin, picking up the little Kyoraku to show it. “It's too bad I don't know how to play chess, or I would have kept it. Games must be fun if you're playing with that.”

“I can teach you if you want.” Offered Kisuke – he looked almost eager. He must be impatient to test the set as well. The scientist whipped out his fan. “I am rather talented at chess, if I do say so myself.”

Of course he was. A game that involved strategy and outwitting your opponent was almost tailor-made for Kisuke.

“I'd like that.” Replied Ichigo. “But not right now. How about after dinner?”

“After dinner it is.” Chirped Kisuke, folding his fan and hiding back it in his sleeve before he skipped to were he was inspecting one of the many crates of books.

A groan, followed by a painful-sounding thud reached his ears. Ichigo turned around in time to see Karin bang her head on the nearest surface again, which happened to be a sturdy and painful-looking chest of wood and iron.

Yuzu looked up at him with a resigned shake of her head, so Ichigo didn't ask, although he couldn't get rid of the feeling that his youngest sister was more exasperated with him than with Karin.

At the rate those two were going, they would still be circling each other obliviously in a century. Yuzu had counted on Urahara-san being slightly less dense than her idiot of a brother, but the man didn't seem to get the hint either.

Clearly, she would have to help them, lest this wouldn't go anywhere and they would all be stuck in this limbo of unrealized feelings and unknowing pining for the rest of eternity. This was horribly awkward for the rest of them, as forced onlookers, which – she decided – gave them all the reasons in the world to stage an intervention.

The good news was that Tessai was on board – they had discussed their options this morning, before Ichi-nii had woken up and they had turned their entire attention to cooking (also a delightful topic – the man knew a lot of foreign recipes and was willing to teach her).

Ichi-nii and Urahara-san had been given a chance to figure this out on their own and it obviously led them nowhere; now it was time for Yuzu and the rest to give them a little push. Or a forceful shove.

Operation Slap-Some-Sense, or Triple-S for code, was underway; the first meeting would be in two days, long enough to warn all the operatives.

Now where was Ichi-nii's phone? She needed Uryuu-nii's number. Since the other teen was family (and clearly needed some love and bonding, poor thing was so stuck up and awkward around them), he could help his cousins, even if she had to force him to.

Yuzu knew her puppy-eyes were a devastating weapon. Uryuu-nii stood no chance.

A Shinigami eventually ended up knocking at their door the next day, demanding answers, but it was not Isshin.

It was Shinji.

Ichigo watched the man be brought by Kisuke in the living room where he and his sisters were taking a break from their sorting work to look at the various Quincy mediums they had unearthed and compare their merits based on the information they had found in books.

(Apparently, the number of branches on the crosses was more than cosmetic, allowing or preventing the use of different Quincy techniques. People also had varying affinities for each one, as they did with the various jewelry used as mediums and the with the purity and composition of the silver. It would take time to figure out, and a message to Uryuu had confirmed this was news to him as well. His cross bracelet had been gifted to him by his grandfather, and it was identical to all the ones worn by the rest of his family.

As a hybrid that made absolutely no sense, Ichigo could rely on his shorter blade for some Quincy tricks, according to Ossan, but the sterner half of Zangetsu had also advised him to chose another, purely Quincy medium if he wanted to learn more. Moreover, his sisters needed one too if they were to start learning techniques to defend themselves.)

Shinji looked uncharacteristically serious when he arrived, and announced the purpose of his visit without wasting time on greetings. “I need explanations on why you attacked your father, Ichigo. Central 46 will eventually catch wind of it and use it as an excuse to declare you feral and dangerous and order your execution if we don't counter them first.”

OK... That had not been anything he'd expected when he stabbed Isshin, but he already knew Central 46 had it out for him and wanted to get rid of his existence (he was proof that all the races could coexist and even live and reproduce together, making more 'monstrosities' of his kind. That sort of idea was anathema to everything the Gotei had stood for for centuries, and the government was not as open to change as the Shinigami were – after a fair bit of ass-kicking). His Shinigami friends would probably not throw him under the bus – even if they had largely done so already when he had lost his powers – but he couldn't count on the entire Gotei not to betray him and as such had made an effort to stay on Central 46's good side... or failing that to not venture too far on their wrong side lately.

At least Shinji's somber attitude made sense now. The man was worried about Ichigo, probably both at the execution order threatening to fall over his head and at the possibility of him loosing control of himself. No matter how often Ichigo explained that Shiro was a part of his soul and not a risk anymore, the older Visoreds couldn't completely forget how close to the edge of madness they always stood with their inner Hollow.

Ichigo trusted Shinji – to an extent. The man would always look out for him as a sort of older brother figure, just like he was doing now, but he also had the annoying habit of thinking that he knew best and didn't necessarily trust Ichigo when the hybrid made his own decisions (unlike Kisuke, who let him chose his path and was always three steps ahead of him, ready to support him however he could).

Case in point: the Visored had never truly believed that Shiro was half of his Zanpakuto and no longer a threat (and had never really been, when his sole purpose had been to keep Ichigo safe, no matter the cost, but that was another topic altogether).

So while Ichigo had no problems explaining exactly why he had seen fit to stab Isshin, he refused to share more than needed. His psychopathic tendencies and the way they expressed themselves would be kept a secret. Shinji didn't even know about who Ossan was – only his sisters, Kisuke and whoever Kisuke had told knew did, and that was probably only meant Tessai and maybe Yoruichi. Isshin might have an inkling, but it had never been confirmed.

Learning that Ichigo had a chunk of Yhwach's soul merged with his would be a golden opportunity for Central 46 to declare him a state enemy. Thankfully, only a few – mostly – trusted individuals even knew that his mother had been a Quincy, so Ichigo's abilities and the truth of his powers had been kept under wraps so far.

Now he only had to explain to Shinji that Isshin had been an abusive father for years and that Ichigo had drawn the line at pointing a sword at his sisters. The older Visored would understand – he wouldn't be happy, wouldn't get the extent of the damage Isshin had done, and would argue that Ichigo could have found other ways to deal with Goat Face (like calling him for help) that didn't involve brutal murder, but he would understand. And he would spread the news to the Gotei in a way that benefited Ichigo.

Ichigo's only job was to figure out how best to explain without revealing sensitive secrets. Thankfully, Kisuke was here, already aware of everything, and the greatest liar and manipulator to have ever lived (along with Aizen, maybe, but Kisuke wasn't currently rotting in prison, so he was clearly superior in Ichigo's totally unbiased opinion).

Kisuke had his back, so Ichigo had nothing to fear as he started to recount the events of the last few days.