Disclaimer: Bleach, its characters and its settings aren't mine

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"What? That's crazy!" Kurosaki Isshin couldn't believe what he'd heard.

"Nevertheless sir, it's true. You've been ordered to start your preparations immediately." The messenger handed him a scroll. "The particulars are enclosed sir." The young man shunpoed away.

Kurosaki Isshin sat down heavily at his kitchen table, scratched at his bearded jaw.

This was – unfortunate.

Unfortunate? Unfortunate be damned! This was bloody impossible! Irresponsible! He-

-had to live up to his responsibilities.

The front door opened, Ichigo called "I'm home!"

"Ichigo," Isshin called. "I need you in the kitchen. Get your sisters too."

"You know I don't like it when you use your serious voice, old timer. What happened?"

"Just get your sisters Ichigo. I should probably talk to you first but this affects all my children, Yuzu and Karin deserve to hear it at the same time you do."

"What-"

"Ichigo," Isshin sounded tired. "Just get your sisters."

A subdued Ichigo went to the stairs to search out his sisters. The girls were thirteen now and they sometimes could be difficult. Carrying them is a more credible threat when he was in arms reach.

He found them in their room, doing their homework.

"Oi, munchkins, the goat wants a family council. Everyone downstairs."

"We're busy," said Karin. "Can't it wait?"

"He doesn't seem to think so."

There wasn't a lot of movement.

"I did say he said now? Get a move on, munchkins."

Yuzu made a munchkin face. "Stop calling us munchkins."

"Stop looking like one."

Yuzu suffers from what I call cute little face disease. When she gets annoyed, her cute little face makes her pout. Conversely when Yuzu is happy, her cute little face makes her seem extra happy. I personally have scowl-itis.

I enjoy that a lot more.

I was scowling right now. I didn't feel like arguing – neither of these two knew what kind of mood the goat was in, something had upset him.

It takes a lot to upset him. He'd laughed off me breaking into the Seireitei.

Well, no help for it, someone was going to get carried.

I grabbed Yuzu because she kicks less, threw her over my shoulder. And Karin always follows to try and rescue her (Karin's pretty fierce) so taking Yuzu first saves me a second trip.

Have to time it right though or I get kicked from behind.

I'm fast as ever, seconds later a small screaming mob was flashing down the stairs. Karin almost got me as I made the kitchen and put Yuzu down. Karin had her fire up, she wanted to fight and-

"Settle down."

All the action stopped, and everyone under eighteen turned to look at the goat.

He pointed to the table. "Sit kids. We need to talk."

Yuzu and Karin, and I'll admit myself as well, were stunned into silence. We took our places at the table. Dad put a hand to the back of Yuzu's neck like he was comforting her.

"Am I interrupting?" Rukia stood by the kitchen door in her shinigami form. By now Yuzu and Karin could see her perfectly.

"No," said Isshin. "You may have answers. Please take a seat Rukia."

Okay, this was getting creepy. I don't think I've seen my father this serious for this long since the war.

"Dad," I said, "what's happened?"

He had that deadly serious look in his eyes, the one that's almost always replaced by his idiot lunacy a second later. This time the lunacy didn't come. "When Aizen started his first attack within the Seireitei he destoryed the chamber of 46. He replaced their orders with his own, almost executing Rukia in the process."

All of us knew this part of the story. It had become impossible to conceal our shinigami natures from the girls once they developed their own spirit powers. We'd had to explain everything.

This reminded me of that conversation.

"The chamber is the government of the Seireitei."

"I thought the king-" said Yuzu.

"No, peanut. It's the chamber."

"Dad, what's happened?" I was beginning to get really, really worried. That old nameless dread.

"Old man Yama built the thirteen squads, the academy, the kido corps and the secret remote squads. Because of that people were willing to accept his rule during the war. Now that the war is over a lot of people think too much power is concentrated in one pair of hands."

I'd never thought of that before. The old man had been the last one standing, he was a senior official, I'd just sort of assumed there was some sort of succession plan that put him in charge. He was the boss, it was as simple as that. The Seireitei had never seemed like a democracy, certainly I'd never thought of it that way."

So what? "So – what's happening, is he retiring?"

"We're promoting him. Six judges, forty sages. There are a lot of seats to fill and not enough people to fill them. Yama is going to be one of the judges. The rest of the captains will mostly be sages. A great many people are tired of Yama's martial law, including his own captains. A lot of people feel he didn't manage the war particularly well. Effectively they've neutralized him, despite the promotion."

"What do you mean martial law?" That was Karin.

"It was martial law," observed Yuzu. "Wasn't it? I never thought of it that way before."

"Yama's old and stubborn beyond words," said the goat. "There's a lot of people who think he made more mistakes then he should have, the captains and a lot of others feel it's time for a change. They want to overhall the system, arrange things so a stunt like Aizen's never comes so close to succeeding again. In the central 46 he'll have no more power than any of the other judges, a lot of people are considering that a great trade for getting him out of the captain commander's post. People of the Seireitei want their government back."

That was too much. "What, the Rukongai? How much of a vote did people there ever get?"

"Enough with the righteousness, Ichigo." Dad pinched the bridge of his nose while I wondered who'd replaced my father with an alien. "There are people of influence. Merchants, the nobility, the academics, the squads themselves. People want their government back, even the illusion of government. The chamber must be restored. As I said with the losses from the war there aren't a lot of qualified people available, so they have to make do."

"What does this have to do with us?"

"I've been recalled."

"What?"

"It gets better, son. So have you."

"WHAT? I don't know anything about government!"

"You won't be in the government. You'll be captain commander of the 13 squads."

I looked at my sisters, then Rukia, wondered if we should try to get my father some kind of help. For a few seconds there I honestly thought he'd lost his mind.

"It's true Ichigo," said Rukia. "As we speak arrangements are being made to reopen the hall. The 46 are supposed to be back in business in a few weeks. Captain-Commander Ya-" she checked herself, "the outgoing Captain-Commander has committed to that."

I didn't even know where to start. "How can they- Rukia, what he said-"

"It's true Ichigo. You're to be the new Captain Commander. With some changes," she amended "The secret remote squad and the kido corps will no longer fall under your jurisdiction And I would suspect the central 46 will take more of an active roll in running the squads."

This wasn't making any sense. "Rukia, that's crazy. There have to be at least twenty people ahead of me for that job!"

"Ichigo," she said, almost pleaded. "Calm down. You can't lose your temper this way anymore." She sighed. "To answer your question, all but one of the captains are being moved. They'll become part of the new central 46."

"So why me? I-"

"Ichigo," Rukia said, "please calm down." She sounded tired – I realized there had to be ungodly stress at the squads right now. "The reason they've chosen you is Zaraki-taicho."

"They aren't taking him with them?" I felt a rotten sinking sensation as the pieces clicked into place. I'd said it without much hope, but it didn't really sink in how insane it sounded until I heard it out loud.

Rukia had the grace not to mock me. "They wouldn't offer him a government position and he wouldn't take one if they did. And the vice-captains-" she shrugged.

"None of them can handle him, Ichigo," said my father. "It has to be you."

This was all happening too fast- I reached out for something -anything- "But – what about school?"

"Ichigo," said my father, "if the Seireitei falls apart there'll be no safe place left on this world." He squeezed the bridge of his nose again. "I'm sorry, son."

My life was gone, it had just disappeared. This afternoon I had a future, that – it had ended-

Rukia continued. "Mayuri is arranging for a permanent portal between the captain commander's residence in the Seireitei and this house. Yuzu and Karin will be able to continue with their schooling and their lives here."

"Wait a second," growled the goat. "Why the captain-commander's residence? My girls need their father!" This wasn't the Kurosaki Isshin the goof, this was Kurosaki Isshin the father talking. Yuzu had already started to cry, Dad put his arm around her.

"I'm sorry," said Rukia. "You know the rules, Kurosaki-san. For now the members of the 46 live apart. Maybe that will change with the new administration. Until it does you'll have to trust Ichigo to stand in for you."

"That's asking too much!" growled the goat. "He's a boy himself! What does Ichigo know about raising daughters?"

"He's the captain commander Isshin-san. Beyond that-" Rukia just shrugged, there was nothing she could do.

"What about the others?" I demanded. "Urahara, Yoruichi?"

"Urahara-san, by virtue of being more intelligent but not as clever as Yoruichi-san has already been taken into custody. Twenty members of the secret remote squad. Yoruichi, by virtue of being very clever, ran away the moment she saw them. As far as I know they're still searching for her."

"Surely you're not going along with this, goat?" That was Karin. Her eyes were wide and her voice rose. "Goat! You can'tdo this!"

We argued and fought into the night. There were a lot of tears before the end.