Do I Belong? (Bleach)

Too Much to Take In

I stared at the man, open-mouthed, wide-eyed.

"Captain Shiba? You're still alive?" I whispered.

Captain Shiba smiled warmly at me. "That's father to you," he said.

With tears brimming my eyes, I jumped up and hugged Isshin.

"I missed you, too," he laughed, hugging me back.

"Why did you leave?" I asked. Surprisingly, I wasn't angry. Just... Curious is the best word I can come up with at the moment.

I let go of him, and he had a serious look on his face. "I'm not going to go into detail now, but I am going to say this. If I had let her die when there was something I could've done to prevent it, I wouldn't have been able to look myself in the mirror again."

I looked at him, confused, wondering who he was talking about. Then I nodded, understanding. I laughed. "Sounds like you."

Isshin smiled again, but then decided to get down to business. "So why exactly are you here? I wasn't able to get any details from Kisuke, Rukia or Renji. Why exactly are you being executed?"

For the second time, I explained that Central 46 had accused me for kidnapping the sixth seat officers from each squad except for ten. Then I decided to share the similarities I had with each officer, like our piercing blue eyes and the fact that we've been the sixth seat at the same time, until I was promoted to third seat.

Isshin, my adopted dad-wait wait wait wait wait. Wait a moment.

Before Isshin could say anything, I spoke up, "Wait a minute. Your my adopted dad, right?"

Isshin nodded, giving me a questioning look.

"Aren't you Ichigo's dad?"

Captain Shiba-or is it Kurosaki now?-needed a moment to process what this meant. Once he did, he gave me a death hug. "My children have another sister!" He said, crying tears of joy.

"Ack! Can't... Breathe!" I gasped.

He released me. "Don't tell Ichigo, Yuzu or Karin about this. Ichigo knows I'm a soul reaper, but that's as far as it goes. Got it?"

I nodded.

"Also," he added. "Don't tell Toshiro or Rangiku that I'm here."

"What?!" I screamed. "You expect me to not share this amazing news?"

"Shhhh," he said, trying to calm me down. "I'll tell them, if that's what your worried about. But I don't think now's the right time. So, please don't tell them."

"Alright fine," I huffed, crossing my arms.

Suddenly, my stomach growled. I haven't eaten in too long.

Isshin laughed. "C'mon. We'll eat breakfast while we decide on what you're going to do."

I climbed out of the closet, still wearing the clothes from yesterday, and followed Isshin to the kitchen. I sat down on one of the chairs, while Isshin grabbed some cereal and poured it into a bowl. After he had a spoon and milk, he pushed the bowl towards me. I took a huge bite, swallowed and asked, "Aren't you going to eat?"

Isshin shook his head. "I ate earlier."

"So, what do you think I should do?" I asked, this time with food shoved in my mouth. Captain Hitsugaya would be so ashamed of me. But, he's not here. Muahahaha!

"Fortunately, you and Renji managed to get here undetected, so the soul reapers think your still in the Soul Society, so they're not about to come here to look for you."