We all know how Ichigo lost his mother Masaki, who was a quincy, when he was very young. But what if he actually gets depression because of it? If his father started to neglect Ichigo thinking it's his fault and now only concerns himself with Yuzu a...
After that day Ichigo spent most of his time by said riverbank skipping school. Though the school, knowing that the kids mother recently passed due to a 'car accident', gave the kid some leeway and left him alone for a couple weeks hoping that the rest of his family could console the kid. No such thing happened. Actually, the total opposite occurred. Ichigo was ignored more and more by his father who was mourning his wife. Due to this Ichigo had to take care of his only other family.. His baby imouto's (=younger sisters).
Ichigo slowly became depressed... and kinda stoick (like Ulqiorra). His father would often go drinking only to come back and - if he was careless and bumped into him or said sth wrong - yell at him, in some cases even grab him and throw him to the other side of the room harshly. Depending on the damage he'd either sneak into the clinic to grab painkillers and bandages or limp to the hospital.
Due to his frequent 'visits' he later got a phone number when he finally got a cell phone on his 13th birthday (his sister's wanted to text him so they told their dad to get him one, which he then did).
So whenever he got injured he went to the nearby park texted or called the hospital - more accurately Dr. Ishida - who picked him up and then drove back to the hospital to treat him, muttering to himself.
His sisters were dependent on him when they were younger so he had to mentally grow up quickly which caused him much stress, headaches and what not. One of the things that happened was that he became emotional often and picked random fights which then led to rumors. Those.. were -and still are- hurtful furthering his depression. ___________________________________
When Isshin FINALLY got himself together (for the most part) he only cared for the thing still important in his life. His lovely daughters Yuzu and Karin who by then were already 8 years old.
The only support that Ichigo had was the occasional man that sat with him by the riverbank. Sometimes it was the usual hat'n'clogs, others were a black haired man, 2 different cats and the doctor from the hospital (actually he could almost name every doctor and nurse in the hospital, even naming a few patients who he temporarily roomed with sometimes).
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(this is hat'n'clogs/Urahara and one of the 'cats') Due to his sisters slowly becoming older and with him having to resume his studies, he hid his depression in the deepest dephts of his soul.. and put on a mask. ___________________________________ Timeskip 5 years later
Ichigo was at home, sleeping, when he started having a weird dream. He had those more often when he became a substitute Shinigami.
He would meet two entities, which someone told him were beings of his inner world. One, his Zanpakto, the sword that Shinigami wield to kill Hollows and send souls/ghosts to soul society: Zangetsu.
The other his inner hollow, as explained by the Visards or realized by his 'closest friends', a being that can take control of him to act as it will which is mostly psychotic: nicknamed Hichigo. Standing for 'hollow-Ichigo' as clarified by the 'first' Soul reaper he met who gave it that name: Rukia Kuchiki.
Tho.. finding that name kinda kinky and feeling he wouldn't like such a name either, he gave it a personal name: Shiro.
Aforementioned Hollow was at 'odd's' with him and would fight him every time he came into his mindscape. After being around the hospital often, Ichigo gained a semi-worthy understanding of psychological issues. It helped putting himself in his supposed horses shoes ('.. Or hoves?' He should ask Shiro next time he saw him since he spouted that stuff with kings and Horses) and seeing things his way. Now they are partners since another term like friends was a bit cringy for Shiro so the idea was shot down with a blunt "no!"
Shiro, Tensa and Zangetsu, which hesitantly introduced himself again (he explained that he's actually part of his Quincy power, the other one being Tensa) with a few others which were also accepted by Ichigo. ___________________________________
~In the mindscape~
"Yo Ichigo!" shout-yelled a carbon - copy of himself with slight difference. It was Shiro and just like his name he was almost completely white, with the exception of the occasional bleach and his 'peculiar' eyes. "Hello Ichigo, welcome back", greeted another entity. This one was of a youthful boy dressed almost completely black with blue eyes, named Tensa Zangetsu or just Tensa for short. Ichigo greeted them with a casual smile, hands in his Hakusho and with a 👋🏻 hand said "Hi guys, what's up?"
They met more often now; the 3 of them, since the others only come when it's either important or depending on their moods. Last time they spoke to each other, Shiro told him if they could all see through his eyes to see what's going on in the outside world to which Ichigo obliged. After Tensa explained how. This time both of them asked him "Ichigo, could you perhaps imagine/make a few things in here so that when we have nothing to do, we can play or occupy ourselves?". To which he merely raised an amused eyebrow and imagined a few computers, TV's, amusement parks, board/card games, sip-lines and gaming consoles which he 'demonstrated'.
That's how they sometimes spend their days together. And, in all honesty, Ichigo cherishes those more than Shiro and Tensa could imagine. The smarter ones, Tensa and Sangetzu with Mugetzu, (he appeared when all three got along and Shiro wanted to try out the extend of Ichigo's soul reaper powers) pondered over Ichigo's behaviour sometimes and during one of the rare slip-up's realised that they should also emotionally support Ichigo (to which Tensa had the honour to inform Shiro when Ichigo wasn't there).
Result: Ichigo questioned why a few buildings were destroyed if not severely damaged, to which Zangetsu (after catching Tensa's look) replied "Shiro wanted to fight against Tensa again and Mugetsu had to separate them".
