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To be fair to the fucking bastards, they pulled the whole thing off perfectly. Not a single one of Ichigo’s many allies was tipped off beforehand, and these days most of Soul Society can double as Ichigo’s fan club.
The order for Ichigo’s arrest came through, and before any of them could get their heads out of their asses, the kid was already brought in by Kuchiki of all traitors.
If that was where it ended, Shinji wouldn’t have even stressed. But Central has apparently been planning this for a while, and Kyoraku, enthusiastically stuffing himself with every mind-altering substance available in hopes of forgetting Ukitake’s passing, has let the dice fall as they would. Onmitsukidō is out in full force, kidnapping a loved one here, leveraging a business interest there. Laws are trotted out as justifications, and somehow Shinji is as caught up with it as the rest of them. Ichigo is his ally first and last, that much is clear, but the rebellion he was planning to join—never materializes.
Ichigo sits in jail, wearing reiatsu-limiting seals by the hundred, and his so-called friends do—fuck all, as far as he can see. The Kuchiki girl wrings her hands, her red-headed boyfriend gets performatively drunk, but nothing concrete gets done. Well—that’s not true. Yoruichi, in true cat-fashion, runs for the hills, taking her entire clan with her. Leaving Sui-Feng behind, he notes with no little disgust. What a fucking move. There’s washing your hands, and then there’s betraying everybody equally, in the name of fairness.
Fine, then. He won’t ask anything of his Visored, they all have shit to lose, friends and loved ones and subordinates that double as hostages to ensure good behaviour. Kuchiki has never seen an order he hasn’t followed and nobody has seen Zaraki since the war ended and he and his daughter told them all to fuck themselves. The two left, taking two-thirds of the eleventh, and nobody has heard from them since.
Shinji’s got one last door to knock on, and he will be very fucking surprised if nothing comes out of it.
Kisuke is late, as it happens, because he’s busy tearing up worlds to unearth Ichigo’s sisters. Isshin is accounted for, whimpering uselessly in his clinic. As soon as it becomes all too clear the man is only worried for the two of his children he actually loves, Shinji and Kisuke both move on to more viable pursuits.
They aren’t given enough time to do much else but flail around, every bit as useless as Ichigo’s so-called friends before Kuchiki of all damn Shinigami is sending them a butterfly to let them know they are needed urgently in Soul Society. Since that can only mean shit is about to get serious, the two of them scramble even more to get to Soul Society as fast as possible through Kisuke’s knockoff Garganta.
They get there in time to see Ichigo stroll out of the smoking ruins of the prison, only his base-level scowl to signal any irritation he may feel about the whole thing.
The scowl quickly melts into a heartbreakingly familiar shy smile when he spots the two of them. “Shinji, Kisuke, hey.” Ichigo breaks into a light jog, seemingly uncaring for the hundreds of Onmitsukidō assassins and hundreds more of agents of the Central 22 quickly filing around them. Kisuke sure isn’t as uncaring as Ichigo is, and neither is Shinji for that matter, but it’s clear Ichigo is running the show. If Kisuke’s wearing his long-unused Onmitsukidō armour, Benihime all but vibrating on his side, and Shinji’s not being very careful with his Reiatsu, well. Nobody can fault them, surely? “Did Byakuya get you?”
Kisuke is the first to break character, face twisting with shame and rage. “I haven’t—Ichigo, I couldn’t—I looked everywhere, I tore through every hole they thought I didn’t know about and I swear, I couldn’t find them anywhere—”
“Who—Oh, shit, yeah, no, it’s fine Kisuke. Karin and Yuzu are fine.” He has the gall to send a glance Byakuya’s way. “They are fine, yeah?”
“Of course,” says fucking Kuchik. Shinji’s head spins, confusion shaking him out of the more explosive manifestations of fury. “They are enjoying their rooms and send their regards. Noriko is thrilled to have children in the house again.”
Noriko—Byakuya’s fucking maid? The kids are in the Kuchiki Compound? What the fuck?
“I can imagine,” says Ichigo with the same, shy little smile he wears around the people he trusts. Shinji doesn’t slap himself, but he really fucking wants to. “She’s a sweet lady.”
“Wait, you knew? You knew that Kuchiki would take them,” says Kisuke, almost reading Shinji’s mind. “Did you know this was going to happen? Why didn’t you—I thought we—”
“Oh no, Kisuke, no,” Ichigo hurries to say, losing the smile in favour of panicked guilt. “I didn’t know, I would have told you first, honest. But it was Byakuya who came to arrest me, you know?”
He says it so easily too, like the idea that Kuchiki wouldn’t be completely on his side is so foreign to him, he doesn’t even acknowledge it as a possibility. Kuchiki nods, face as composed as ever, only the slight unthawing around his eyes to show his pleasure at being so publicly acknowledged.
“Did he tell you,” persists Kisuke, unwisely in Shinji’s humble opinion. Why rub salt on the wound? “When he arrested you, did he let you know?”
“I mean, he didn’t need to?” Ichigo frowns a little puzzled frown. “It’s Byakuya, come on.”
“I see,” says Kisuke, with about the same level of understanding Shinji feels. “I am glad to know they’re safe, in any case. I have been—worried.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t know how long he wanted me to stay in prison, so I gave it a day just to be sure. I’d have let you know, but you could’ve, like, asked. He was right there.”
They would have, they would have asked if they haven’t both written off Kuchiki as a traitor without a thought. Them and everyone else, apparently, because their audience now numbers practically everyone that Ichigo knows.
“Kurosaki Ichigo, by the orders given by the Central 46, signed off by the Captain Commander, and my authority as the head of the Onmitsukidō, you are sentenced to death.” Damn, thinks Shinji, morbidly amused. Sui-Feng sure is fucking stupid, hey? “Kuchiki Byakuya, stand down and hand yourself over to the nearby Onmitsukidō agent, to answer the charge of aiding and abetting the escape of one Kurosaki Ichigo, Kurosaki Karin and Kurosaki Yuzu.”
“Wait, so, hold on,” says Ichigo, now getting some proper rage going. “You did target Karin and Yuzu too. Sui-Feng, what the fuck.”
“Quiet,” she snaps. “All three of you are the illegal offspring of Shinigami and Quincy and thus cannot be permitted to live. Your cooperation is advised but not required.”
“Right,” he says, angry but nowhere near as much as Shinji expected him to be. “Well come on, then. Let’s do this.”
In hindsight, Shinji thinks, it is very ill-advised to try and judge Ichigo’s moods. Whatever any of them had expected, it wasn’t for him to be so gung-ho about lethal violence. They’ve all gone complacent it seems, conveniently forgetting just how impossibly strong Ichigo has become over the years. How strong they’ve forced him to become.
Even they remembered, they would expect him to be as squeamish about the whole thing as is his wont. Not so. Ichigo doesn’t bat a lash as he slaughters his merry way through the Onmitsukidō, starting with Sui-Feng and moving on from there like it’s business as usual.
Only Shinji and Kisuke fight with him, Kuchiki calmly standing to the side, using an honest to fuck umbrella to shield himself from the sprays of blood. The Kuchiki girl is actually screaming at Ichigo to stop, and only her redheaded boyfriend holding her back away prevents her from crossing the final line at which he or Kisuke will be forced to intervene.
The rest of the denizens of Soul Society watch from the sidelines like the cowards they are. Someone even dragged Kyoraku there, just as intoxicated as Shinji expected.
Whatever. Shinji is mostly fighting to disable, not having the stomach to kill those so much weaker than he is, who are doing the bidding of those up top. Kisuke sure isn’t. His kill count isn't as high as Ichigo’s, since they’re both killing only those who attack them first, but it’s not insignificant either.
Fuck, how is Shinji the least bloodthirsty out of the lot? When did that happen?
The nauseating storm of violence stutters to a stop inevitably, after Ichigo has killed—everyone, it seems. Everyone not disabled by Shinji or killed by Kisuke, at any rate.
“Well,” he huffs, leaning on his giant Zanpaktou, “That’s done. Man, but that was unpleasant. I don’t know what kind of place you clowns are running these days, but here’s hoping I don’t have to do this again, hey?”
“Seconded,” says Kuchiki, closing his umbrella with an audible snap. That's some ballsy fucking comedic timing. Shinji’s actually warming up to the frigid nightmare. He doesn’t know what the fuck is happening there, like, he doesn’t think they’re fucking, but he’s sure not ruling it out. If they’re not now, then Byakuya’s biding his time until he doesn’t feel like a complete creep. It’s in the cards for sure.
“Ichigo, how could you,” wails the girl and her brother has the gall to look mildly ashamed on her behalf. “You didn’t—this is monstrous—”
“I mean, they did threaten death to my innocent, fully alive sisters who never even stepped foot into Soul Society,” Ichigo says in a reasonable, off-hand tone that still hums with, now that Shinji knows what to look for, some powerful fuck-off undertones. Kisuke hears it, but more interestingly so does Kuchiki, who stiffens, and catches Ichigo’s eye with something—careful in them. It’s not pleading, exactly, but it’s something along those lines. Huh, okay, so the girl is going to get away with it, then. But on her brother's sufferance. Sure. Makes sense, in hindsight. She sure hasn’t shown much camaraderie.
“So you just killed them?!”
“Sure,” he says, shrugging that damn gesture all teenagers have down to a science. “Sure I killed them. What did you expect?”
“I expect you to be better,” she throws back, displaying a shocking lack of sense. That’s not your goodwill you’re cashing in on, little girl, but your brothers, and nobody really knows how far that will take you. “I expect you to not be like Aizen.”
Woah, low blow. Shinji loses some of his bemused cheer. Ichigo is the only one unbothered by the dig. Everyone else is shocked, even her little boyfriend. Even, notably, Kuchiki.
“That is enough, Rukia,” says the damn man. “You are crossing so many lines, one wonders if you are even aware that they exist. Go back to the—Sixth and stop yourself from incurring debts you will not be able to repay.”
Shinji blocks out her bleating, and only watches with half an eye as the redhead drags her away. That was an interesting pause, there. Not the Kuchiki Compound, where Ichigo’s sisters are, but the Sixth. Fucking sure.
Ichigo rocks back on his heels, amping up the ‘approach with caution’ vibes. “So, like, do you need me to—murder anyone else, before I go, or?”
Kyoraku laughs through his drunken haze, the grotesque self-loathing scraping down Shinji’s mind. That’s— “Can I volunteer?”
Ichigo spares him a look drenched in a cold, dispassionate flavour of pity. “Not in a million years. I’ll give you a couch to crash on, if you ever walk out of the bottle, though.” He pauses, tilts his head in a bird-like manner. “I live with my sisters, you know. That will be fun.”
Kyoraku laughs again, the sound so divorced from every positive emotion on the spectrum that Shinji kind of gets that leaving him alive would be far worse than anything Ichigo could hope to do to him. “Yeah. Yeah. Fun. Hey, so, all you lovely on-lookers—I think this unfathomable horror can count as my resignation letter. Anyone who has a problem with that, good timing. I don’t even hear my Zanpaktou these days, so the chance to take a swing is now. It will be, ah. Fun.”
“Try it and die screaming,” adds Ichigo, continuing the infuriating back and forth motion. “Listen, I’ve had a Hell of a day, and I’ve killed a lot of people. I’m honestly getting a bit fed up with this. Unless any of you is particularly eager to die immediately, Kyoraku excluded, I think it’s time for this little, uh, whatever I am, to go and eat some eats.”
Kisuke snorts, but unlike Shinji who is kind of having the time of his life, his friend is kind of growing more depressed by the Goddamn moment. Out of character, honestly. In Shinji’s experience, Kisuke should be salivating at the chance to rub some shame in everyone’s face. So why—
Ah. Yoruichi. Yesterday's Shinji would have told him Ichigo doesn’t mind, that he hadn’t even noticed, but today’s Shinji isn’t so sure. Ichigo noticed just fine, he just isn’t surprised by it at all. The kid, as far as he can tell, only ever expected Shinji, Kisuke and fucking Kuchiki to be on his side. Even the other Visored, damn, even the ice-brat who should be actually dating one of his sisters—
Wait, the ice-brat isn’t here, is he? In fact, he hadn’t seen the ice-brat since this whole thing went down. Which can only mean—
“That’s why you were so calm,” he blurts out, catching up to Ichigo who is strolling away, arm in arm with Kuchiki like he isn’t drenched in blood and everything else one would expect from a man that slaughtered hundreds just the other minute. “The ice-brat is in the Compound!”
“I mean, that’s what I assumed,” says Ichigo. “Toshirō’s family, yeah? I imagine he came knocking before Byakuya even brought them in.”
“He was very polite,” says Kuchiki in an almost paternal show of approval, like he has opinions about Karin’s suitor and his relative worthiness. “Yuzu was quite charmed that he included a gift for her, as well. A dream-catcher, straight from District three. You would have approved.”
“Yeah, Toshirō’s got his head on straight. Knows best way to keep Karin happy is to be extra nice to Yuzu.” Ichigo nods, dislodging a piece of gore from his hair in the process. “He’s a good one.”
Kisuke materializes next to Shinji, but without his hat on, it’s clear to see the man is devastated. Yeah, it sucks. Yoruichi never expressly abandoned Kisuke—she’d never do that, not for anyone or anything—but she didn’t stand with Ichigo either, and Kisuke isn’t built to hold separate loyalties.
“Chin up, old man,” says Ichigo. “I’m not mad. Yoruichi-san and I never had that sort of relationship, you know? She acted fairly and took herself and her clan out of the equation. That’s more than fine by me. Plus I am willing to bet she only took off once she knew that Karin and Yuzu were safe.”
“She did,” nods Kuchiki. “I informed her personally.” At Shinji’s outraged nod, the bastard has the gall to arch a brow. “She was the only one to come to me for information. If we discount Hitsugaya Taicho, who had invited himself to the Compound before the twins even arrived.”
Ichigo shakes his head, dislodging some more fucking gore, seriously kid, that’s so fucking gross— “I can’t even—Shinji, okay, I get that you don’t really pay attention to stuff, but Kisuke? Really? How could you even think that Byakuya would leave my sisters alone with Isshin of all Goddamn people, never mind the Onmitsukidō?”
“I—didn’t think,” says Kisuke, still much too subdued for Shinji’s liking. “I heard what had happened and—lost it.” He pauses, eyes growing a little far away. “I don’t envy anyone who has to put back all the prisons I’ve broken into pieces.” Another, longer pause. “In other news, I may have inadvertently released Aizen. I hadn’t seen it happen, but I would be very surprised if he hadn’t taken advantage of my rampage through Maggot’s Nest and slipped away in the chaos.”
“Eh,” says Ichigo, wholly unconcerned. “Don’t stress about it. After all the times he could have gone for my sisters and hadn’t, I’m feeling pretty charitable about the whole thing. It might even be fun to watch him take a second go at it. Kyoraku will sure be happy.”