Chapter Text
All that he could remember was the screams and a loud BANG when he woke in the hospital bed.
Ichigo’s eyes fluttered several times while a a light over his head flickered. “Ugh…” The teenager groaned, attempting to sit but all that was happening was that his arms would continuously give. “...hello…” he attempted but his voice sounded as if he hadn’t wet his throat in years. He raised his arms and as far as he could, hands shaking with several needles and a patch over each, he could only assume to stop any bleeding. He continued to try and speak when the door opened, bright light shining in and causing him to groan again.
“K…Kurasaki-san?...” a familiar voice sounded, this causing him to turn his head.A man with a bucket hat, blonde hair, and a old styled robe stood in the door way to only drop whatever he was holding, from the sounds he assumed it was a drink and maybe some candy. “Y-Yoruichi! Hes awake!” was yelled loudly and this only caused the orangette to groan with a pounding headache. Where was he? Why was this man walking into his room? Was he somehow related? Ichigo could remember his name, and some flashes of people here and there but that was about it.
Suddenly a franic, and very loud woman with… was that purple hair? Ichigo just blinked as he saw the woman rushing in and then to his bedside. “Ichigo… honey, you’re awake.. We thought we lost you too.” She raised her ebony hand to cup his cheek as she started to tear up. “Kisuke you idiot grab a nurse!” She yelled turning her head as the tears began to overflow.
Kisuke and Yoruichi… did he know them? He must since she spoke of his as someone close and dear to her. “Where am I? Who are you…?” he somehow managed to say as his voice was extremely horse, this caused her eyes to widen, those golden orbs that looked like they would go on forever, it was a shame to see her in such a distressed state. “Ichigo can you say something for me. Anything?” She said voice a bit panicked between sobs. “Something? Anything?” he said and his response was a soft, playful smack to the cheek and then she held his face in both hands. “You fucking smart ass.” Was all she said with a chuckle and then a light kiss on his forehead, this made him give a small blush, for some reason he had the urge to call the woman a pervert but he just kept his mouth shut and accepted that he couldn’t stop the woman with how weak he felt.
Moments later the man he assumed was named “Kisuke” walked in with a woman who had a long black braid placed in front of her chest, Ichigo thought the woman would look like that girl from The Ring if she let it go and wet her hair, the eerie smile not helping the matters in the slightest. “Hello, Kurasaki-san… My name is Unohana Retsu… I have been taking care of you since you were admitted. Can you tell me if you can remember anything from what happened to you?” She asked in the voice that sounded as if she could kill you but keep her expression calm the entire time. Ichigo gulped a bit, mouth still dry.” N-no…” he shook his head with a frown. “Can I get some water? I feel like I haven’t had anything to drink in ages….” He struggled to get out, at this Kisuke came up with a bottle, placing it to his lips and tilting it back slowly to help his since his arms were still weak, the woman’s hands finally removing from his face for this.
“I see. Let me take your vitals, once I do I will leave you for now to stay with your aunt and uncle. They can explain what has happened to you. As long as recovery appears to be going well you should be able to go with them within the next couple of days.” As Unohana said this, Ichigo noted that her eyes appeared a bit sad which only caused Ichigo to blink and stare at her in confusion. ‘So these two weirdos are my aunt and uncle? Why does she look so sad? Why did extended family come to see me here instead of my immediate?’ were thoughts that came through his head and just continued to run through him while the doctor took vitals, checked that he was still able to move his legs, be it a bit slowly, and wanted to make sure that he didn’t have any other outstanding issues. “You seem fine as of now. We will check again tomorrow after you get some rest. “Urahara-san, Shihoin-san, if anything seems to happen please let me know. I won’t tell anyone that you are staying pass visitor hours so please contact me via my personal cell phone. Have a good night, Kurosaki-san.” He nodded as the doctor walked out of the dimly lit room.
Ichigo turned his head and blinked a few times, tilting his head to the other’s. “So… if you are my family… Where is GoatFace and my sisters? I remember we were in the ca…oh…” and suddenly it hit him, small flashes of memories came to him, not sure why this was hurting his head so much to just remember. “I remember… w…we were going to dinner celebrating that I got into that school in Hueco Mundo… I was….” suddenly his vision became blurry, he was going to stay with these two while he went to that private school, Los Noches, he won a scholarship for his art work… as the tears started to fall he could feel himself being pulled into a tight and loving hug on both sides from his aunt and uncle. They weren’t really related to one another but seeing that they knew his father from the time they were in grade school they were basically family at this point. “I… where is Shiro… is he alright… I… can’t lose him too..” Ichigo’s began to run rampant while he melted into the hold of his family’s embrace. Yoruichi began to shush him, almost giving him soothing sounds to try and relax him while Kisuke began to speak. “He is fine… he was out with some friends. I don’t know why but the twerp didn’t want to go to drive with you lot and said he’d meet you at the restaurant shortly after. I’ll go get him for you.. He was in the waiting room saying he needed a second to breathe and not wanting to see you knocked out. He will be so excited to see you.”
Kisuke stood and walked out leaving him with Yourichi who was still making soothing sounds and started to pet his wild mess of hair. “We can talk more when you are back up and moving. Everything will be alright. Try not to push yourself to much… we will stay with you til you’re able to leave with us.” He simply nodded and leaned against her. They stayed like this for a few minutes until the door slammed open and he just saw a while blur running to him, moving Youichi out of the way for Ichigo to get a tight embrace.”I was so worried about you!” was yelled at Ichigo which only caused everyone in the room to chuckle lightly, Ichigo moving his arms to lightly wrap about his twin, setting his cheek against Shiro’s white hair. The two were always the closest brothers could be, some called them the Summer and Winter twins due to Ichigo’s bright hair and tanned skin, where as Shiro was pale with nearly snow white hair. The two could not be any more different. Whereas Ichigo was calm, a bit withdrawn and artistic, his brother was a athletic hyperactive jock that would play any and all sports he could. Somehow they had nothing in common for their hobbies or friend groups but they were hardly ever apart. “Ichi… I am so sorry… I… I was trying to meet you at the restaurant.. I bought a cake and everything so we could celebrate together with Dad, Yuzu, and Karin but… but on my way there I wasn’t paying attention and somehow while I was riding my bike..” Shiro began to sniffle and burry his face inside of Ichigo’s stomach, attempting to quiet himself. Ichigo moved one hand to Shiro’s hair and started to put it, running fingers through the snowy locks. “Shh…. its ok… I think I understand..” What shiro was trying to say is that he was the cause of the crash, riding his bike infront of the family car by mistake to try and meet with the rest of his family… Ichigo should be furious, but right now? Right now he was just happy that he had his brother still, tears began to run down his face and they both sobbed together… Neither realized when their Aunt and Uncle left them together.
~~~~~~
Several days passed like this, the twins being inseparable outside of one going to the rest room or to the shower. Any food that the nurses brought was doubled, apparently Shiro was told them that they would have to remove him by force so they would simply bring two trays each time. Guess when your father helped minimize the amount of people who would be admitted to the hospital with his home clinic , it put the Kurosaki family in high regards by everyone. “So they are going to let me leave later today… I guess that we are going with Yoruichi and Kisuke…” Ichigo said softly, almost a whisper seeing as Shiro was next to him in the bed, head resting on one arm, appearing to be asleep. Ichigo knew that he was awake, but he didn’t have enough fight in him to press the issue, he just brought his arm up to scratch the other male’s head with a small smile on his lips.Ichigo felt that something was off with the other teenager but seeing as how they both lost the only biological family they had left, he just left it to that, neither of them had enough energy to really bring up the issue. “Wake up you lazy dog, you are starting to smell.” Ichigo chuckles, only for Shiro to get a scowl and a grumbled “Fine… asshole”
Shiro stood up and stretched out, giving a grunt as he stumbled to the shower that was located in their room. “Will you be alright by yourself for a minute?” Shiro turned around with his golden contacts where the sclera was black. “I’ll be fine once you stop smelling like musk. Now go” Ichigo shot back with a smirk, this caused Shiro to laugh as well as he shut the door behind him. As the water started the door to the hospital room opened where a nurse named Hanataro Yamada came in with a wheelchair. “Kurosaki-san! Are you ready to leave? Your aunt and uncle are downstairs just filing the paperwork.” The young nurse smiled, he looked exhausted but often did, even though he was running around the entire hospital like a child that had to much sugar. “Yes. I am ready to be in my own bed.. And to be able to walk around some without tubes in my arms… Shiro is just in the shower though right now, he started to stink a bit.” He laughed softly at the insult he threw to his twin, even though the two would constantly insult one another it was all out of nothing but pure love and affection to one another. Hanataro chuckled and shook his head, helping Ichigo into the chair, while they waited for Shiro to finish Hanataro went around the room and picked up and loose belongings for the ginger and his brother. “You know, you two are going to be missed when you go to Hueco Mundo, we all really loved your dad even if he refused to work with us and chose to only do things on his own. He was truly a great doctor.” Hanataro gave a soft smile to the other and Ichigo just nodded his appreciation to the other.
Shiro walked out of the shower after this in just boxers. Before yelling something at Ichigo he noticed Hanataro. “Yamada-Chan!~” he yelled out teasingly, coming up to hug the young nurse. Shiro was a huge flirt with everyone, but was so oblivious when someone else would show any sort of interest, no matter how small. “S-Shiro-kun… I see you’re doing well.” Hanataro said with a small blush to his cheeks, anytime Shiro would add “Chan” to his name the nurse would be all skittish and blush like a mad man. This was something about this place that Ichigo would miss, the two were just throwing minor flirts and it meant nothing for either of them, but it was nice to see his twin enjoying himself.
“Yes yes. Can you both flirt some other time so we can get out of here?” Ichigo said with an eye roll. This only made the two look at him and roll their eyes. Shiro started to get dressed while the nurse was rolling his brother out of the door. “Hey! Wait for me!” he yelled out with a frustrated groan.
~~~
The ride back to the Kurosaki home was long and honestly a bit frustrating for Ichigo, the memories were still a bit faded but it kept giving him memories of his family and the fact he will next see them again outside of photos. Ichigo shut his eyes in a tight squint, trying to listen closely to his aunt and uncle in the front talking about absolutely nothing when his hand suddenly had a tight squeeze, he opened his eyes to see a pale hand, the thumb rubbing against the palm of his hand. Nothing was said between the two, but it truly did help Ichigo relax until the car pulled to a stop in front of their childhood home. “If neither of you are comfortable with this, we can stay at a hotel and come back in the morning…” Kisuke said in a low and saddened voice, not only for the boys he will now claim as his own, but for one of his closest friends along with his nieces. “No. we can stay here… that way we can pack too…” Ichigo said in a soft voice, opening the door to get out. Separating his hand from his brother was probably worse than the feelings his legs gave him after standing up on his own for the first time in several days.
Ichigo walked to the front door slowly as the rest of his group got out of the vehicle to follow, grabbing the key from under the plant which held his houses’ spare he couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. The neighborhood was fairly quiet outside of the occasional accident victim that would be transported to the clinic next door to his house since his father’s clinic was closer than the hospitals, the amount of nights Ichigo and the other’s lost sleep helping his father reset someone’s leg. The fact that his father would always say “If someone needs to break in, why make it difficult for them? They probably just needed help in their life..” gave Ichigo a warm feeling inside his stomach, he could still remember someone walking in one night, his father simply sat the person down with coffee and talked to them, of course after a swift ass kicking.Ichigo finally opened the door, kicking off his shoes and walked into the living room, running his hand against the small couch that somehow the entire family would squeeze on during movie nights, his sisters always complaining there wasn’t enough room and he along with shiro would eventually move to the ground so his sisters could sit with their father, how his dad could handle not only one but two sets of loud twins that all argued together, Yuzu and Karin were both 11 while Ichigo and Shiro were 15, this simply made it so that the age groups would team up against each other. “Heh… I’mma miss them…” he spoke quietly, feeling a pair of arms around him and squeeze him tightly. “Me too. Ichi, mee too…” Shiro spoke into his should, voice cracking a bit towards the end. “Lets go get some stuff together so we can move quicker..”
The twins quickly moved upstairs to get ready for everything the move that was bound to happen within the next few days. Yoruichi and Kisuke were both in education so the twins knew that they couldn’t miss to much work. Neither of the twins knew what they did specifically but they knew they worked for the same school as well as that them being married but never seen as a issue. Ichigo opened the door to their shared bedroom, leaving the room that Yuzu and Karin shared alone, the wound to fresh to see any of their belongings. “We have our backpacks and duffels… clothes are definitely needed… try not to take to much else right now… we don’t know how big their house is, especially with Jinta and Ururu.” Shiro simply nodded and began to pack clothes along with small accessories such as some gold and black bracelets. “Hey Ichi” Shiro said softly as his eye caught two necklaces which only made him smile softly” Do you want to take these with us?” grabbing the charms on their cheap black strings he held up the charms, one appeared as a wooden pentagon with a skull engraved in it, the other a white mask with red markings across the right side, teeth large and what one would only consider “Hostile”
Ichigo turned around and his eyes grew a bit wide, a soft smile crossing his lips. Memories of these necklaces flooding him. “Yes” was almost a instant response, several tears falling down his face, this may have been the first time since he found out about his siblings and father’s passing that this happened. “Of course. Shiro…” more tears began to fall as he brought his hands up to his face to wipe the seemingly never stopping flow. “They are the only things from Yuzu and Karin that I want to keep with me…” he managed between sobs. The day that he and Shiro got these trinkets was a fun day at a amusement park after their mother had passed, the girls insisting that they would win them for the elder twins, heaven knows how much his father spent for his daughters to get these for them. Ichigo could feel his brother’s arms wrapping tight around him, head being brought into the crook of his neck, fingers playing with the back of Ichigo’s neck, twisting his fingers through the orange necks. “I’m sorry Ichi… I didn’t mean to make you cry.. Of course we’ll take them with us.” voice soft, almost cooing his brother until he would stop crying.
It had been about 10 minutes like this when shiro put the Mask necklace around his twin’s neck while he wore the “wooden” one, knowing which was his twin’s preference. “I think we should go get something to eat.” Ichigo nodded in responde and moved his hand to the necklace before following his brother downstairs.
Once downstairs they ran into Kisuke and Yoruichi sitting at a table, three pizza boxes in the center with plates and silverware ontop. “Hey kids, figured you’d be hungry for something other than hospital food.” Yoruichi said with a wide grin to the two, motioning them to sit down. “We also need to talk about when we will leave and what YOU both want to do with this home” she placed emphasis on the word “You” to let them know the statement is for the both of them. Ichigo just looked down, as if he couldn’t think of possibly selling their childhood home, or someone else possibly living here, even though those would be the only logical options, meanwhile Shiro blinked and looked over to his brother. “Can we talk about that later?” was all Shiro said, obviously speaking for the both of them. Yoruichi nodded and started to set the plates out and opening up boxes for them to get ready to dig in. “Its by no means something to decide tonight. Though, I do want to let you both know what we will need to do about moving and school.” Kisuke said in a forced cheerful voice, where the hell he pulled out a fan to obscure his face, the twins will never know.
The group ate dinner, very little conversation happening between any of them aside from the occasional crack at Kisuke from Shiro which would bring a smile to Ichigo every once in a while. After they were done eating and cleaning up the group started to talk about the move that was bound to happen within the next several days. “So!!~Ichigo-kun, I know you got into Las Noches. Your dad didn’t get to tell you that you’d be staying with us until you got settled into the school. See, I am the lead of the Science Department while Yoruichi-chan is head of the physical education team.” Ichigo and Shiro just blinked, usually these two were always such goofballs neither of the twins ever thought they would be head of anything. “Wait…. We thought you owned a candy shop or something stupid like that?” Shiro stated more in the way of a question, Kisuke just acted as if that was the most shocking thing he had ever heard. “I have you know, I do own a candy shop too! And it is doing very well!~” He said in a way that reminded Ichigo of his father when he would be saying something stupid and then speak to the portrait of their mother in the living room, always making the children roll their eyes an groan, fuck, he was going to miss that. Ichigo simply ignored his uncle and looked towards the picture hanging across the room and gave a small smile towards it. “I love you mom…” he thought to himself.
Shiro noticing his twin’s forlorn look he turned his head to follow his eyes and a soft choking sound came from his throat as he choked back a light whine which could easily become a sob. Their aunt and uncle noticing what was happening both cleared their throats to get their attention, this did break the thoughts of the twins as they both looked towards the adults. “So!~ Shiro-chan, we pulled some strings and you will be joining Ichi-chan at the new school. Since you know, you’re both to young to not be going to school.” Kisuke said in a overly delightful voice that caused the brothers to groan at the “Chan” portion that he tagged onto their named, even though they were both smiling for getting to still stay together. “ know how athletic you are Shiro, so you are enrolled in a few medical science classes as well as I expect you to join at least one sports team” Yoruichi smirked at the boy who just bounced a bit with delight, where as Ichigo was the artist of the family, Shiro wanted to go into sports medicine. Not quite following his father’s footsteps but enough that Shiro thought that he’d be proud. “Even though I lead most of the courses you will have other teachers, don’t expect me to go easy on you, Shiro-chan” she put extra emphasis on the “Chan” portion just like her husband did to get a groan out of his, this only causing her to chuckle. “I lead a few of the sports teams as well just depending on the time of the year, so since the new season is about to start for soccer, you are more than welcome to try out, but just know that its up to the team in Los Noches to choose their team, captains holding the most weight, even I as the coach don’t get much of a say on if you’ll be accepted or not.” She sighed softly, taking a sip of her water. “Grimmjow is pretty strict on who he accepts, but I’m sure you’ll do fine.”
Shiro nodded with a huge grin on his face. “Oh. I can’t wait to see how this works out. Why does the captain have more say than the coach though?” This was the only part of the entire conversation that seemed to confuse Shiro. “The school does this for a few reasons, mostly so that the teams can build comradery along with respect between their ranks.. You can’t really respect someone for their skills when its seen by a outsider.” With this she shrugged and nodded to Ichigo. “As for you, you were already chosen for the arts program.so I won’t make you choose a sports team, but you better show up and support my boys!” She stood up with a smirk, golden eyes mischievous as ever, leaning over the table to punch him in the arm playfully. “Go upstairs, finish your packing and everything. We will leave in the morning. Don’t worry about cleaning up either, we will take care of it.” The boys nodded and did as she asked, texting their friends and saying their goodbyes, they’d be back soon on their next break.The twins had the same group of friends including Orhime, Chad, Ishida, Rukia, and Bakuya. The group chat between the seven of them instantly blew up, everyone asking if they could come over even though it was pass dinner time. This made the boys smile but Ichigo and Shiro agreed saying “Goodbyes” would be to much for the both of them before, when they sent this most of the responses were sad except Byakuya who simply said “It is only a few hours away, we will just need to make a trip to visit you both when you settle in. We will miss you both.” He along with Chad were always the most logical of their friend group Ichigo turned to Shiro who he could of sworn had a light blush across his cheeks. Shiro always had a it of a crush on the oldest of their friend group, to shy to say much one on one incase he said something embarrassing. All the Ichigo could do was nudge his side with his elbow. “Fuck off” was the only response he recieved which only made Ichigo chuckle.
The following morning the group packed the car, and left the Kurosaki family home.