Finding Friendship (Bleach Fanfic)

Shifting Tides

Finding Friendship
Shifting Tides

An orange head of hair appeared in front of the Kurosaki household. The teen opened the front door and stepped in. "Hello... I'm home."

"Ichi-nii!" A brown haired blur came hurtling at him and he felt his sister Yuzu wrap her arms around his waist. He watched as Karen looked up and waved her hand in greeting only to turn back to her game. He looked down to see that Yuzu was completely aglow at seeing him. "How long are you going to stay? You are going to stay for awhile. I mean... you don't have a reason to go. You also have school to worry about."

Ichigo reached down and ruffled her soft hair. "Sorry Yuzu. I'll be heading back tonight."

The young teen girl pushed away and spun on her heals. "You're so mean!" She stormed over to the kitchen. "No dinner for you."

"Come on Yuzu... now you're the one being mean."

"I'm not the one whose planning on throwing away my education and future. I mean, what are you going to do?"

The orange haired teen reached up and scratched the back of his head. "It's complicated. I do have some things I need to take care of."

"What kind of life can you have without a high school education... or even a college education."

Ichigo's facial features creased up in worry.

"Yuzu," Karen let out a sigh. "You're kind of being mean to Ichi-nii. He does have plans for the future. There is also something he's taking care of. Dad's in his office taking care of paperwork. I'll make sure Yuzu sets a plate for you"

The teen headed over to the clinic and headed to the office. His father was busy working away. "Hi."

Isshin looked up with a rather tired look on his face. "How is the kid doing?"

Ichigo took a deep breath. "Honestly... he isn't doing very well. We can't get him to leave the room. Ukitake and Kyoraku want him to take part in the Shinigami Kids Society. Somehow, despite the fact he didn't go to the first meeting... he ended up being named the leader of the club. I personally think it would do him some good."

"Depends..." Isshin stacked the papers. "I can't help but wonder how well that will work. Seems like a major gamble. The bigger the gamble though... the bigger the payoff they say. I know you wouldn't leave his side just like you wouldn't leave your sisters sides unless you had a reason... so what is it?"

"I'm here to take care of some things at school."

"I can take care of that."

"I also needed to let Yuzu and Karen... mostly Yuzu... know that I am all right. I also promised Toshiro I would get him some new books to read. He hasn't read anything new." Ichigo watched as his father stared at him wide eyed for a few seconds. "What? What ever is the matter?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking how much you've grown up. Each day you're more and more like..." Isshin stopped short and took a deep breath before looking away. Ichigo raised an eyebrow.

"Like who?"

"Never mind. You never met him and never will."

"You're talking about Uncle Kaien." Ichigo watched as his father froze in place.

After a few seconds the man turned back to Ichigo. "How did you find out about Kaien?"

"The tenth division office is missing an entire wall. Toshiro's photo albums ended up wrecked. I saw a picture of you with a guy who looked like you and Nanao told me who he was." Ichigo placed his hands into his pockets. "Are you going to go and visit Toshiro? You were his former taicho, so isn't he quite fond of you?"