Short Stories and Oneshots

Sorrowful Tears of the Moon - Part 4 - Fin

Soul Society

Ten Years Later

He stepped out of the Senkaimon and inhaled deeply. The air in Soul Society just seemed to flow more easily, more fluidly than in the Living World, and it was a relief to be back. This place had become his home since he'd turned fifteen, and he'd never been gladder to have accepted Yamamoto's offer over the years which had passed since his time-travel and Aizen's death. A burst of Shunpo brought him to the first division barracks, and he knocked twice before letting himself into the old man's office, nodding at Sasakibe as he crossed the room to join Yamamoto at the railing overlooking Soul Society.

They stood in silence for a long while. Yamamoto was the only one who knew exactly what had happened in that future that would never be. Ichigo hadn't planned on telling anyone, but in the end, his regularly having tea with the Captain-Commander ended up discussing war, and so he'd told him everything, knowing that of all people in the Soul Society, Yamamoto was the only one who could come close to understanding what he'd been through. He was the only one, after all, who'd fought a Vasto Lorde and lived to tell about it, the only one to have ever seen an Arrancar, the only one who'd been through war and back.

It most likely was the reason why they'd become friends so easily, but in a different way from before. Before, their relationship had been that of a mentor to his pupil, and then of a grandfather to his grandson. It had been full of affection and teachings and wisdom, but now, there was a shared respect and mutual admiration for one another's power and somber past that brought them together and closer than they'd ever been. Yamamoto was old, old and wise and scarred, and Ichigo was scarred, young but jaded, eyes haunted by the horrors of his past, the horrors one so young should never have seen, the horrors which allowed him to understand the wisdom of a man over two-thousand years his elder.

They got along spectacularly, to the point that Ichigo was allowed liberties no one else was; entering without waiting for permission being one of those.

"How are your sisters and father?"

He was torn from his thoughts by the old man's strong but gravelly voice.

"Well. Yuzu's engaged and Goat-face is over the moon, crying like an idiot."

"What about your other sister?"

Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest.

"I don't think she's going to get married anytime soon."

Yamamoto cracked his eyes open a fraction to sneak a look at the younger captain. After Aizen's reveal and subsequent annihilation, Kurosaki Karin had gone back to the Living World and school, but that hadn't stopped her from seeing to her Shinigami duties. Apparently, she thought that she couldn't afford to laze around as her strength could be needed anytime, and she had to get stronger so that she wouldn't be a liability for her brother were she to fight by his side someday – which she would, she fiercely asserted, as she had every intention of getting into his squad upon her death so that she could make sure he didn't do anything stupid. She had also made a point by regularly dropping by to check up on her brother, which had brought about more and more encounters with Hitsugaya.

The young captain looked just about as enamored with her as she was with him, and it had become obvious after a few years that those two would end up together. Ichigo sighed at the thought. He'd seen in his future how happy Toshiro could make Karin and vice versa, so he wasn't opposed to it, far from it. He was concerned, however, about the kind of life she would lead, waiting for one's death couldn't really be considered as healthy after all. He also hoped she wouldn't suffer too much from this relationship which they wouldn't really be able to live to the fullest until she was dead.