Work Text:
It was Kurosaki’s fault. When isn’t it?
Due to a feat of complete reckless abandon, things - on what would otherwise be a normal night of patrol - had turned out… unfavorably.
They’d assumed that this Hollow’s gimmick was teleportation; or rather, an extremely fast sonido, but this was not the case. As opposed to shifting quickly, it was able to rapidly produce bursts of energy that seemed to briefly stun the senses, including perception of time.
It would’ve been easy for Ishida to take down on his own, especially from a distance. Of course, that idiot had to get in the way and try engaging in close quarters.
“Kurosaki! Are you trying to make me shoot you?” It was impossible for him to get a clear shot, both he and the Hollow flailing around like uncoordinated bugs.
“Back the hell off, Ishida!” Kurosaki’s blade met the creature’s claw in a clash, but Ishida knew it was preparing another burst before Kurosaki was able to launch a blast of Getsuga.
“Behind you!” Ishida fired an arrow, which the Hollow managed to just narrowly dodge. Too late, as it performed its burst move and before Ishida knew it, he’d been launched a good distance away, landing on his back. From above, the beast came crashing down on him before Ishida’s vision returned to focus.
“Ishida!”
“Stay… back!” Ishida grit out. An ominous, shrill sound came from above him, and Ishida could only assume that this time the Hollow was charging a larger attack in the hopes of finishing him off. This was the perfect opportunity for Ishida to proceed with an ultimate attack of his own, though of course a certain soul reaper didn’t seem to allow it.
“GETSUGA…!”
At the sharp rise in spiritual pressure, the Hollow turned its attention back to Kurosaki.
“Damn it all,” Ishida muttered to himself. If the Hollow’s appearance was anything to go by, it was attempting a larger-scale sensory deprivation attack. It would be disastrous if Kurosaki were to get caught in it. Without using his bow, Ishida launched an arrow of light directed at Kurosaki’s feet.
“...TENSH– AAUGH!” Kurosaki stumbled, falling onto his face.
In that brief loss of concentration from his opponent, Ishida readied his counter strike, “Zielt Krieg von Kitz Hart Vierte…!” Then, as the Hollow’s attack seemed to emerge from the depths of its body, Ishida retrieved a Ginto from his pocket. “Gritz!”
In a flash, a large shield cocooned the Hollow in white, emblazoned with the Quincy cross. Ishida took a sigh of relief. It should be enough to contain it, but…
The burst fired anyway, causing a bright light to erupt from inside the shield. It had all happened so fast, Kurosaki only looked up after the damage was done. The Hollow seemed to have self-destructed, and took the shield with it. Thankfully, Ishida appeared only minorly injured.
“Ishida, what the hell!” Kurosaki roared regardless. He stomped over to the quincy, dragging him to his feet by his lapels. “That was way too reckless, especially for you! What were you thinking?”
Ishida’s expression was unreadable as ever, the refraction of light in the lenses of his glasses causing his eyes to be hidden. “Its ability was to freeze all of the senses.”
Kurosaki snapped, “You think I didn’t figure that out?”
Ishida clicked his tongue, “That’s even worse! You knew and you still charged in thinking you could brute force your way through this?”
“I know my limits, Ishida, it didn’t affect me long enough to knock me out of the fight,” Kurosaki stated loudly. “You’re the one who literally got dropped on his ass!”
“If you would’ve just let me eliminate it from a distance, we wouldn’t even be arguing right now,” Ishida scoffed. “You’re the one who increased the risks by using close combat. Who cares if you know your limits - if you reach them, who will be there to back you up, huh?”
This was when Kurosaki finally noticed that when Ishida addressed him, he wasn’t looking him in the eye. “Ishida. You…” His pupils were huge.
To this acknowledgement, Ishida just sighed. “Laugh it up, Kurosaki. But trust me, even if I can’t see that stupid expression on your face I can still punch your lights out.”
~*~
Ishida was blind.
(“Temporarily,” Ishida was quick to correct, though Kurosaki couldn’t help but have doubts. “I’m not completely powerless, this is just like any other reiatsu-inflicted wound. My vision should return by tomorrow.”)
Kurosaki stubbornly insisted on helping Ishida get home, and Ishida didn’t hold back the constant nasty glare, nor the occasional kick to the back of the shin accompanied by the weakest “oops” any human being could hope to muster. He knew it would be a riot to tell his friends at school the next day, and of course he wanted to assure them that Ishida would be fine… but how could he hope to convince them when he wasn’t even convinced himself?
A frustrated grumble escaped him as he stomped through the hallways towards his classroom, completely oblivious to how the sea of people practically parted instantly to avoid being caught in the storm of his foul mood.
Inoue could probably heal Ishida up no problem, but who knows how damn stubborn he would be about letting her handle something so “insignificant.” What a damn egoist. The next time Kurosaki saw that stupid face–
Hold on.
Kurosaki took a few steps backwards, towards the classroom next door to his own. And there was Ishida, sitting at his desk. He couldn’t help the way his jaw dropped to the floor. Ishida was setting up some kind of ruler along the edge of his notebook, potentially to allow him to write in a straight line despite his lack of vision. (How did that weirdo plan even for something like this?) Stranger than that, though, he wasn’t wearing his glasses.
Despite his appearance, Ichigo Kurosaki was not a delinquent. He was not the type of guy to barge into another classroom just to question a friend on his supremely idiotic life choices. But man, sometimes he was tempted.
“Ishida-kun,” the teacher entered the room, startling Ichigo who appeared to be just weirdly loitering outside now. “What happened?”
“My glasses were shattered,” explained Ishida.
“I’m so sorry… how did it happen?”
Without a pause, “I fell down the stairs.”
That excuse again? A groan threatened to escape Kurosaki’s throat. This guy was still so horrible at coming up with half-decent lies when it really mattered.
The bell rang for first period and Kurosaki cursed under his breath, rushing over to his own classroom. Seriously… Ishida was begging for all the wrong kinds of attention!
~*~
He followed after Ishida to the roof during one of their break periods.
“Stalking me now, Kurosaki?
“Wouldn’t be the first time, according to you, anyway,” Kurosaki put his hands in his pockets. “How are you holding up?”
“Perfectly fine.”
“Well, I can tell your reikaku hasn’t dulled a bit, anyway - I bet you’re gonna say you’ve noticed my presence since I stopped in front of your classroom this morning.”
“Took the words right out of my mouth.”
“Creep,” Kurosaki muttered.
Ishida turned, clearly amused, “How else do you think I was able to navigate?”
“Huh? Wait, you’re saying you’re able to see by just sensing spiritual energy?”
“Not exactly,” Ishida squinted, looking away once more. Kurosaki wondered briefly if he always did that when he was deep in thought. “I doubt I could ever get used to living like this. But I welcome this sort of challenge every now and then. Though, I’ll admit, at times it’s been… jarring.”
“I bet you’ve been put off ‘cause this is your first time being stared at by everyone. How’s it feel?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m pretty sure this is the first time I've even seen your eyes without your glasses, let alone everyone else.” Kurosaki made a ‘glasses’ gesture over his eyes, knowing Ishida couldn’t see.
Ishida merely sighed, “I really doubt that has anything to do with this. And besides, I’m used to having people stare - I am the student council president, after all.”
“Sorry, sometimes I forget,” Kurosaki scratched the back of his head absentmindedly. “Just another thing you try way too hard at.”
“Why you,” Ishida’s lip curled, before he cut himself short. In rapid succession, Ishida and Kurosaki’s heads whipped around in the direction of the west side of their school building, towards the appearance of a Hollow.
It was significantly weaker than the one from the night before, but it was far enough away that if they didn’t act now it would be out of reach.
“Dammit,” Kurosaki cursed. He reached into his pocket for his Substitute badge, quickly shifting into his spirit form. Pulling out Zangetsu from against his back, he prepared to take off towards the threat, “I’ll finish this quickly.”
“Wait,” said Ishida suddenly, holding an arm out to block Kurosaki’s way.
“Hang on, what are you–”
Ishida grabbed his hand, placing it on his own shoulder. Then he materialized his bow, and Kurosaki watched in awe as it grew to twice its normal size.
“What the…?”
The bowstring drew back in Ishida’s grasp, and a long, thin arrow appeared in the air, crackling with energy. When it was fired, the air whizzed around the projectile like a blazing missile, striking its target with a clean hole through its mask. The Hollow shrieked as it was vaporized from that single blow.
“Holy crap,” Kurosaki breathed. “How did you even know that would work?”
“I didn’t. But, I knew with your power it was at least possible,” Ishida reached a hand up to his face to push his glasses back into place, but they were not there.
Kurosaki snorted.
“Quiet,” Ishida snapped.
“Hey, I didn’t say a thing!”
“There was no need,” despite his terse words, a pink flush reached Ishida’s cheeks. “Regardless, I feel no gratitude nor any respect for the likes of you.”
“Hey, isn’t that kinda harsh?”
Kurosaki had clearly meant it jokingly, but for some reason or other it brought Ishida pause. It was so obviously an untruth, considering his current debilitated physical state was a direct result of a something of positive feeling that Ishida held for a certain orange-haired shinigami.
“Not at all.”
He took a step back towards the door leading downstairs to the classrooms, and tripped onto his face.
“Shit, Ishida!” Ichigo rushed over, but Ishida slapped his hand away as soon as he offered it.
“Damn you, Kurosaki…!” Ishida was nearly vibrating with rage. “You just left your body lying at our feet!”
Kurosaki was nearly at a loss for words, “Well sorry, but it was kind of an emergency! How didn’t you see it? Or, I don’t know, sense it?”
“You idiot,” Ishida grit out, “I couldn’t sense any spiritual pressure from your body because you were out of it!”
Kurosaki stared at Ishida’s furiously blushing face, then at his own still incapacitated body. “Oh. My fault, Ishida.”
“Yes! Absolutely your fault!” Ishida stalked away back into the school, leaving Kurosaki calling out from behind him.
Of course. When isn’t it?