Adult-FanFiction.org : Bleach

In the Aftermath of Winter	By : Nakkinomiko Category: Bleach > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 5655 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or its characters, and make no money from this fic

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
A/N: Finally, I beat this chapter into submission! I apologize to everyone that has been following this story. Sorry for the long wait! Raymy, when I started to outline this story and realized that the plot bunny was demanding I somehow get Aizen and Ichigo together, I agonized for days on how to orchestrate a prison break. Making the Hogyoku sentient helped me get there in my outline. I really appreciate you sticking with me, even if you don’t like the idea. Thanks so much for your kind words! Silverblaise, you ask the best rhetorical questions! I welcome your speculations, and I think you’re going to like future chapters. :) Wikedsinn—Here’s the more you requested!
Oh, and I’m kind of interested in people’s opinions: Let’s say Ichigo is forced to break Aizen out of prison…who in Sereitei would help him, and who would be against him? Thoughts?
Okay, on with the story!
*****
Chapter 7: Dilemmas
The minute Isshin steps into the kitchen he knows that both Karin and Ichigo are not quite themselves that morning. He already knows why Karin didn’t sleep—he’d felt the pressure of Hitsugaya’s reiatsu the previous evening, and he can only imagine the turmoil his daughter is experiencing. Isshin knows she likes Hitsugaya a great deal, but he also knows that she is developing feelings for Grimmjow as well. Hitsugaya’s return has complicated her life a great deal, and Isshin wonders what Grimmjow will do. It would take a completely blind fool to not notice that the Espada is head-over-heels for the girl. Will he try to fight for her hand?
Isshin muses over that while he pours himself a mug of coffee and decides that no, Grimmjow probably won’t do a thing to sway Karin’s decision. Isshin thinks that the Espada cares for her too deeply, and he wouldn’t cause Karin the agony of forcing her to decide. He suspects that it will be the same for Hitsugaya. Ah, Karin. I don’t envy you, kid. I can’t help you with this one—it has to be your decision. Isshin sighs and turns his attention to Ichigo.
His boy is obviously distracted. He’s eating the egg and toast that Yuzu set in front of him, but Isshin doubts very much that Ichigo is tasting it. His eyes are fixated on the table top and he’s wearing the trademark scowl that tells Isshin the boy is thinking hard about something. Ichigo’s gaze flits towards Grimmjow before he stares at the table again, and the boy’s frown deepens. Isshin starts a mental countdown from ten, and before he even makes it to five Ichigo speaks.
“Grimm, was there ever a time at all that Aizen didn’t seem cruel to you?” Ichigo asks, his gaze still intent on the tabletop.
Isshin watches anger flit across Grimmjow’s expression. The Espada opens his mouth, no doubt to tell Ichigo to shut the fuck up, but then Grimmjow seems to suddenly notice that all is not well with his orange-headed friend. Anger gives way to obvious confusion, and Grimmjow snaps his mouth shut. Ichigo finally looks up and Isshin doesn’t like the quiet turmoil he sees in his son’s eyes. Something is happening here. Isshin can feel it in his bones and it makes the hair on the back of his arms stand on end.
“Why?” Grimmjow asks.
Ichigo shakes his head, and his eyes plead with the Espada. “Can you answer me first? Please?”
Grimmjow frowns slightly, and thinks about it for a very long moment. Finally he sighs and sags into his chair. “Once. The day I was born as an Arrancar. I was really, really cold and very weak when the transformation was complete. I can remember lying on a stone floor, and I was nude and shivering, and so fucking cold that my bones ached. Then someone was kneeling next to me and wrapped me in a warm blanket and then just held me close. I looked up, and it was Aizen.”
Isshin watches with no little concern as the memory washes over Grimmjow. Something like grief crosses his features, and when he speaks again, his voice holds a slight tremor.
“In that moment his eyes were warm and kind, and his smile was real, not that crazy smirk he wore in the end. He welcomed me to Los Noches, and helped me to my quarters. He practically dressed me himself—I was too weak to do it on my own—and then tucked me into bed. He told me to rest, that I would meet the others the following morning. And then he left.”
Isshin wonders if Grimmjow realizes that he has shed a single tear.
“If you had asked me in that moment, I would have told you that Aizen was kind and compassionate. I would have told you that he loved me as a son, that he was proud of his creation, and that he cared about me.” Grimmjow clenches his jaw. “You can only imagine my surprise when I was faced with cold eyes and that fucking smirk the very next morning. I never saw that warmth again, Ichigo.”
“But you did see it,” Ichigo all but whispers. For some reason, Ichigo has gone pale. He drops his gaze to the table top again.
“Ichigo, are you alright?” Isshin asks. The boy looks like he’s seen a ghost, and Isshin doesn’t like the sick tone his coloring has taken.
“Dad, I had a dream about Aizen last night.”
The silence that falls after that statement is complete. It’s been well over a year since Ichigo has dreamed of that bastard, and Isshin had hoped that Ichigo’s luck would hold.
“A nightmare?” Isshin asks after a long moment. Ichigo has his full attention now.
“Not exactly. Dad, what if . . . what if Aizen wasn’t in control when he did all that stuff? What if it was the Hogyoku? What if it was controlling him, even before it fused with him? What if Aizen was on the inside screaming the whole time he was destroying everything around him?”
Isshin feels a lump form in his throat as Ichigo’s words sink in. He is not without compassion, and as he contemplates his son’s questions, he feels his stomach give a slight twist. Isshin thinks of what it would be like, to lose his will completely to another, to be forced to complete such heinous acts against his will.
“It would be terrible,” Isshin finally manages. “But Ichigo, there’s no way to know for sure, is there?”
Ichigo worries his lower lip between his teeth, and he finally looks up and meets Isshin’s gaze. The boy’s eyes are full of turmoil.
“No,” he finally says. “I guess not.” He drops his half-eaten toast into the remains of his eggs and stands from the table. “I’m going for a run. Sorry for not finishing, Yuzu. I’m just not hungry.”
Isshin watches him go, not sure what he could say to erase the agonized uncertainty he saw in Ichigo’s expression. He is even more worried now than he was when the conversation started. He hears the front door open and close when Ichigo leaves without further words. Isshin’s gaze snaps to Grimmjow when the Espada suddenly stands.
“I’m going after him,” Grimmjow says. His scowl is fierce. “I don’t think he should be alone right now.”
Isshin couldn’t agree more. He nods at Grimmjow and the Espada disappears from the kitchen. He can’t help but notice that Karin stares after him.
“Karin?”
She shakes her head and glances at him before attacking her breakfast again. “I’m okay,” she says between bites of egg and toast.
“How’s Hitsugaya?” Isshin asks.
Karin goes very still, and after a moment she slowly sets her fork down and meets his gaze. The conflict he sees in her dark eyes is heartbreaking, and he isn’t surprised when her eyes suddenly fill with tears.
“He’s fine,” she manages. “He’s coming back, in two weeks. He promised to take me to dinner.”
Isshin gives his daughter a gentle smile. “That’s good, right?”
“Yeah,” Karin says, but her tears seem to flow even faster. “I think he’s even going to be in a gigai, so Ichigo will be able to see him.”
“Karin, you don’t look happy,” Isshin says.
“Dad, I’m so confused!” Karin’s face crumples and her tears start in earnest. “I didn’t think I’d ever see Toushiro again! If I had known I would have never allowed myself . . .” Her words trail off and she hides her face behind a hand.
“Karin, it’s okay,” Isshin says gently. “You’re not the first girl in history to fall for two guys, you know?”
Karin takes a stuttering breath and wipes the tears from her face with a napkin. “I know that! But . . .” More tears fill her eyes. “It would be so much easier if I hadn’t realized last night that Grimmjow likes me, too.”
“Ah.” Isshin rises from his chair and walks around it to crouch next to Karin. She turns in her chair and wraps her arms around his neck and buries her face against his chest. He engulfs her in his embrace and presses a kiss against her temple.
“Dad, I love them both,” Karin finally manages, her voice barely a whisper. “I love them both and I don’t want to hurt them. But I’m going to have to, eventually, right? I’m going to have to choose, sooner or later.”
Isshin tightens his embrace, his heart aching for his little girl. “I don’t have an answer for you, Karin. But, whatever decision you make, you know that I love you, and I will support you. So will Ichigo and Yuzu. And if those boys love you as much as I think they do, they will respect your decision, whatever it might be.”
Karin nods after a minute, and then sits back in her chair. “Thanks, Dad.”
Isshin gives her a small smile, choosing to remain serious rather than fall back on his goofy dad persona. He doesn’t think Karin would appreciate it right now. “You’re welcome, sweetie.”
*****
Grimmjow follows Ichigo until the younger man finally decides to stop and rest on a park bench. The ex-Espada approaches quietly and takes a seat next to him. Grimmjow allows the silence to stretch out between them for several minutes until he can no longer stand it.
“Ichigo, tell me about the dream.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Ichigo says after a moment. “It was just a dream . . .”
“But dreams sometimes mean something,” Grimmjow argues. “So tell me about it.”
For a moment Grimmjow thinks Ichigo will refuse, but then he starts to talk. Grimmjow listens carefully as Ichigo recounts the dream in detail. Grimmjow frowns when Ichigo gets to the part about Aizen’s reiatsu.
“What did it feel like?” Grimmjow interrupts.
“It was different than what I remember from our last fight,” Ichigo says. “No less powerful, just somehow lighter. It didn’t scare me, really, not even when it started to wrap around me. It wasn’t suffocating at all.”
“That’s how it was the day I was created,” Grimmjow confesses. “Light, warm, but powerful. So very different from what he was like at the very end of it all.”
“Grimm, I can’t help but think that something is wrong,” Ichigo says slowly. “It’s just this gut feeling I have. That dream was so real, so different from any other dream I’ve had about him, or any other dream I’ve had, period. I don’t even normally remember dreams in this kind of detail, but it’s still with me, and I just can’t shake the feeling that things are not what they seemed.”
“What do you want to do?” Grimmjow asks.
Ichigo’s laugh is not happy. It is filled with bitterness. “There’s nothing I can do. I’m just a human now…and regardless of what I feel it really was just a dream. I seriously doubt with all that happened the old man would open up Aizen’s jail cell to check on him just because of some stupid dream.”
Grimmjow sighs and nods. “I know. But…if that changes, if you think it’s worth looking into, you should tell Urahara. You know they’ll at least entertain the thought of listening to him.”
Ichigo snorts, but nods his head. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Good.” Grimmjow grins at him. “Let’s finish our run and head back. I promised your dad I’d help out in the clinic today, and don’t you have class later this morning?”
“Yeah,” Ichigo stands and stretches. “Let’s go. And Grimm?”
“Yeah?”
Ichigo gives him a rare smile. “Thanks.”
*****
TBC
- 6
- 7
- 8
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In the Aftermath of Winter