Work Text:
Death was not hard for the very old or the very young. A life yet lived did not know what it was missing and a life well lived had no problems passing on.
The souls most difficult to convince were those in the in-between. The children who didn’t know why their parents were so sad, the student with big plans yet to come to fruition, the parents with children yet grown who couldn’t bare the thought that they’d be without them.
These were the souls that Ichigo would spend hours with. Sometimes he’d want to pull his hair out in frustration, other times, he’d hold them as they cried and maybe, he cried too.
The young man who had just got engaged struck him the hardest, he’d just given Orihime a ring and talk of the wedding was all she and his mother had been doing for months. He imagined this young man’s fiance doing the same thing, imagined her getting the news of his car accident, and suddenly it was Orihime in his mind, screaming and sobbing, his parents trying to comfort her when they could barely hold it together themselves. He omitted the part where he was very hard to actually kill and that Orihime would have just rushed to the hospital and healed him. This couple was not lucky enough for that.
They sat on a park bench for 4 hours that night. He listened to stories about how they met and what her favorite flower was and how she hated the color green. He told some of his own, how Hime was so bubbly and positive all the time that in his darkest moments, hearing her voice alone made him remember the good in the world so he could get back up and fight.
“That’s all I want to do.” the young man sighed. “I want to tell her it’s ok, I’ll be ok, and she can move on like I’m going to. I know I can’t stop moving on. I’ve seen things as a soul. I’ll move on one way or another and your option seems better than the others.” he laughed nervously, “But I’d just like to talk to her one more time. Tell her she is and always will be the light of this life and I will see her in the next, when she is old and grey and happily moved on with her second love and children by her side.”
“What if I can do that for you?” Ichigo asked. It was almost first light now, and his own fiance was probably getting worried. “Let’s go check in with mine first, so she knows a hollow didn’t kill me, then we’ll go see a man about this situation.”
An hour later Ichigo was at Urahara’s shop, he’d left the young man at his house with his father now swapping stories about his own love story, although he had the good sense to leave out the part that she died and came back. Again, acted like an idiot, but had 800 years of experience with wayward souls.
“Hey Jinta, how’s my sister?” Ichigo glared at him. In a manner that the soul reaper had come to admire in the boy, he puffed up his chest and looked him square in the eyes.
“Amazing, as always.” He smirked and Ichigo nodded his approval.
“You keep that strength up, kid, or she’ll eat you alive,” he returned with a smirk of his own as Jinta shrugged in agreement.
“Oh, Ichigo, what brings you in today,” Kisuke sauntered out.
“You remember that thing from RD that Hinata and Yumichika broke, the one you said you absolutely had to fix for them first and then never gave back?”
“It’s still broken.” Kisuke nodded.
“Bull shit, Geta Bushi, I need to borrow it.”
“You wound me!” he stated, covering his heart with his hand, “but also you know me too well...give me a minute.”
Kisuke disappeared in the back room before coming back with a seemingly innocuous briefcase.
“I’d give you the speech about playing with fires, corporeal souls, blah blah blah but you wouldn’t listen anyway, instead: Bring it back in one piece, ok. And I made some minor improvements.”
“Goddamnit, what did you do, that meddling almost guarantees something will go horribly wrong!”
Urahara waved him away and Ichigo rolled his eyes and shunpooed back to the house.
“Have they driven you mad?” he asked the young man who was actually mid laugh at the moment.
“No, It’s been so nice being around people who can actually see me, I didn’t notice I was dead for a minute.” At that realization, however, his eyes suddenly became very distant. “I suppose when I move on, everyone will once again be able to see me.” he smiled, although reluctantly, “that will be nice.”
Ichigo got back into his own body and they started the journey to his fiance’s house after bidding the Kurosaki clan goodbye.
“What’s it like? The soul society?”
“I mean, not all that different from here.” Ichigo shrugged. “It’s more traditional looking in structure and clothing, but otherwise, they even have convenient stores now. My friend and cousin own them. There are still bad people and good people and all the ones in between, I mean it’s a collection of human souls, it’s really not that much different no matter where you are in that regard.”
“Hell would be.” the young man joked.
“Eh,” Ichigo shrugged, “There are still better and worse there too.”
The soul looked at him incredulously but made no further comment. Soon, they were at his young lady’s house.
Ichigo was met with tearful red eyes when the young lady opened the door. He could smell fresh incense burning. She had probably just been sitting at the shrine, he thought. He smiled softly at her.
"Rin?" He asked. She tried to speak but only managed a nod. "I'm a friend of your fiance's and he left a message with me for you. May I come inside?"
Rin stepped out of the doorway to allow him in. The young man stood in awe of his beloved, just as Ichigo had found him at the beginning of the previous night, but managed to follow.
"You should sit down," Ichigo bade her and she did.
"What did Peter leave for me?" She finally asked quietly as Ichigo opened up the case with the machine and set it up.
"Well, do you believe in ghosts?" She nodded, but her eyes conveyed a sort of skepticism as well. "I work for an organization that helps souls with unfinished business. I am a friend of Peter's, but we met last night. And the message Peter has for you, would be better coming from him."
Ichigo turned on the machine before she kicked them out of the house from sheer disbelief. Peter appeared in front of her, and Ichigo slipped out the front door.
An hour later, the machine hadn't blown up the house, which that was a good sign on whatever modifications Geta Bushi had made. Ichigo knocked on the door again, and was once again met by a crying girl, but this time she was also smiling.
"Thank you," she stated, louder than Ichigo had heard her speak before. She sounded stable now. He looked to Peter who nodded.
"It was no problem." Ichigo smiled again and turned off the machine. To his surprise she could still see her former fiance. He didn't say anything about it as they said their goodbyes and the pair left to return the device to Urahara.
"So, you shouldn't still be visible or corporeal right now, but you are. So mind yourself and where you are walking." Ichigo told the boy. "And watch out we don't run in to anyone you know." His brow furrowed. Was this the modification that Urahara spoke of?
"I'm ready now, do you think the konsu would work? Then we wouldn't have to worry about it." He made a good point but the more Ichigo considered it, the less he wanted to deal with the potential consequences if it didn't work as planned.
"No," he said. "I mean, it might, but I'd like to get back to Geta Bushi before we try it, in case you leave behind the body or anything. That would be a pain in the ass to deal with on the street. Just keep your head down and we'll figure it out with Urahara when we get there."
They made it back to the shop without incident, by some miracle. As it turned out, Geta Bushi had combined the technology of his giegi creator with the powers of the machine and it now, essentially built a custom one around the soul to create a truly corporeal essence. Ichigo had to admit it was kind of brilliant and insanely effective, albeit a heads up would have been nice. Once Kisuke knocked him out with his glove, the giegi turned into a sort of mannequin again, like the ones he'd seen him give some of the soul society members.
"And, in the end, I get another giegi to have on hand! Win win!" Urahara smiled as he picked up the life sized doll and took it off to some apparent storage, leaving Ichigo to talk with Peter.
"That man is terrifying and brilliant." Ichigo shook his head while watching the door Urahara just left through.
"Listen," he heard Peter start and he turned to him, "I can't even begin to thank you for that, but thank you."
"Well, you caught me at a really good spot to empathize, honestly." Ichigo smiled sheepishly.
"Orihime is amazing. You'll be happy together," Peter smiled. "Anyway, come see me. I'll leave word at the convenience store about where I land."
"Sounds good," Ichigo smiled back as he took his sword hilt and placed it to his forehead. As Peter evaporated into light, he felt a little melancholy. He really had enjoyed talking with him. Probably would look him up at some point. He briefly wondered if he should invite him to the wedding. He'd ask Orihime if she thought that was a good idea or bad…just ignore the fact he was the one getting a psychology degree, she was still much better with understanding the emotions that might cause.