𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒍𝒚 (𝑲𝒖𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒂𝒌𝒊) 𝑬𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 »« 𝙱𝙻𝙴𝙰𝙲𝙷/ᴋɴʏ

x.

    Ichigo stares out at the night sky, no expression on his face and no emotion in his eyes. His long hair blew in the soft breeze, let down after he got back from training with Kisuke.

  Three days have passed and 14 remained until Ichigo would be traveling to an entirely new world in an attempt to save one of his friends–the one who he shares a literal soul bond with–with only five teenagers as his allies and an exceedingly high chance of death.

  Uryū was doing his personal training–Yumiko being the usual menace she is and forcefully helping him by attacking him as he trained–and Obito took it upon himself to run Tatsuki, Orihime, and Chad into the ground with his training whenever they weren't training with the talking cat.

  Ichigo was pleasantly surprised. He assumed Obito would just brush the three off and proclaim they would die before even getting into Soul Society. And Yumiko actually spending her time to willingly help a complete stranger almost gave Ichigo a heart attack in his excitement. His lovely flowers were blooming into such wonderful people! Oh, he's so proud!

  A sigh leaves Ichigo's nose, quiet compared to the hissing of the wind blowing through the wisteria tree. He leans his head against the trunk and closes his eyes, feet hanging over the tree branch he sat on.

  "Did you know about Mama, and her line of work? Did you plan to only use me as a martyr? Are Yuzu and Karin the backup plan in case I was a failure? Did Mama know?" Ichigo thinks back on the thoughts that continued to lure him around for the past few days.

  Oyakata-sama knew of the spirit world. She had to since she was capable of seeing spirits herself–with Mama always able to see spirits as well, along with Mikoto, Mitsuki, Sumihiko, and recently Obito and Yumiko. Oyakata-sama became the corps' leader only a few months after Ichigo became a Hashira–a few months after Mama had died.

  Ichigo was the first to swear his fealty, life, and soul to the–at the time–four year old leader. Who was he to judge a child leader when he himself was a child soldier? In return, Oyakata-sama saw him as a confidante and truly saw the humanity in him when everyone else just saw the monstrous weapon he immediately came to be the moment he took the Hashira rank.

  Unless it came from her dreams, Oyakata-sama could not have known this secret war in Soul Society. And with Ichigo being her unspoken confidante, she would have told him of his position in this war early on.

  Mama... Mama may have known something, but Rukia was correct all those weeks ago. She had to focus on the most present threat to her children–demons. Hollows never really bothered him nor his sisters as time passed, and it was probably a partial consequence of his concentration breathing and using it to hide most of his presence from others. It would be nigh impossible for him to be the corps' doctor if he let his presence loose.

  Kisuke must have known about him from the very beginning, but he gave no indication that he ever visited–and Ichigo recalls nothing from his memories. Even then, Ichigo knows it wasn't his decision to make him a martyr.

  That truly only left one person. His father. But, what did his father have to do with anything involved with the spirit world? He cannot see ghosts, nor Hollows, nor Shinigami, and he clearly had no idea that Rukia was living in Ichigo's closet for those two months. Of course, he was a liar–and a manipulator. Not necessarily a successful one, but he did try.

  Looking back on it now, Ichigo wonders why Mama always kept demon slaying and their late night talks a secret from Goat Face. It was almost like–

  "Nīsan?" Yuzu's voice brings Ichigo out of his thoughts. He opens his eyes and looks down, noticing his sisters standing at the bottom of the wisteria tree.