I feel there's something a little weird about this chapter, but I can't put my finger on it. Since it would probably take a long time to figure out what it is, I decided to post it anyway. I may make some minor adjustments later on though. Nothing big, I expect, but it might happen.

Enjoy.

As it turned out, both of the twins could see Red Lady and Mr Tortoise. Red Lady wasn't too happy about it because the little girls kept trying to tug on her veils and robes.

"It's probably the colours. I heard young children are drawn to bright colours," Mr Tortoise said, with what Red Lady had on previous occasions called an inappropriate amount of good cheer. So far the twins hadn't bothered the old spirit too much. For a while they had been distracted by the shininess of the beads that kept his shield in place, but they'd soon abandoned him again for the shimmering fabrics of Red Lady's attire. Red Lady had been quite vexed.

"'S that's why they like my hair?" Ichigo mused, winching a little as a giggling Yuzu managed to grab a fistful and yank, making the hat he'd gotten from the funny shopkeeper tumble off his head. The twins were now old enough to learn to stand, and they practiced it by trying to climb their brother all the time. Their parents thought it was cute. Ichigo himself would have liked it if they quit doing it, but every time he got annoyed and pushed them off the little girls fell hard on their butts and gave him such tearful eyes he always felt incredibly guilty. He had quickly learned to indulge them to keep them from crying.

"Probably," was Red Lady's disinterested reply from where she lounged gracefully on a net of dark threads she had somehow attached to the ceiling, out of reach of the twins' curious little fingers. Ichigo was eying the net with interest, wanting to sit in it too. It looked fun. Like a hammock. He wondered how well it could swing.

Karin was standing underneath Red Lady, one hand clutching a chair to stay on her feet while her attention was elsewhere. With her other she was trying to reach one of Red Lady's dangling sleeves with a look of intense concentration on her round face. Occasionally Red Lady shifted her arm, making the sleeve sway from side to side, tantalizingly out of reach. Ichigo thought it was a little mean. On the other hand, Karin's expression was kind of adorable this way.

Ichigo sighed in relief when Yuzu was distracted by his hat, cooing over the soft fuzz of the rim. He loved his sisters a lot and he really wanted to protect them from anything that might hurt them, but sometimes their curiosity was a bit too much even for him to handle.

"Okaa-chan has me doing karate," Ichigo told the spirits, randomly bringing up a new topic.

"Oh?"

Huh. Red Lady sounded almost interested. Ichigo hadn't though she liked that sort of thing. Not with the way she was dressed.

"Yeah. It was kinda weird. Everyone was hitting each other, like, for real," he informed her.

Red Lady shifted in her hammock so she could look at him better. "You did not choose it yourself?"

"No." Ichigo fidgeted with the hem of his haori. "I mean, I don't mind. I wanna get strong enough to protect 'Kaa-chan and 'Tou-chan and Yuzu and Karin. But getting hit hurts a lot."

"Were you injured?" Mr Tortoise inquired.

"Bruises. Look." Ichigo showed the spirits a rather large purple bruise on his forearm.

Mr Tortoise took the arm and muttered over it. Ichigo faintly caught something that sounded like 'now how did he do this again?'.

"If you do not wish to be hurt you should get better, so others will be unable to strike you," Red Lady told him without sympathy.

"I guess…" Ichigo gasped when Mr Tortoise's hands glowed. Awed, he watched his bruise disappear.

"You sound quite reluctant," Mr Tortoise observed, eyes shrewd beneath his bristly eyebrows. "Are you having difficulties?"

Ichigo shrugged, too impressed by his newly healed arm to really pay attention. "It's just kinda hard. I can't always remember what sensei shows us. And one of the other boys said that if you do it wrong you can really hurt yourself, and one told how that happened to his sister and how she couldn't use her left hand right for a long time. I don't want that."

Red Lady tilted her head. "I see. Would you like some help then?"

Ichigo got a bit wary. He didn't remember Red Lady ever looking at him like that, but there was something in her smile and the glint in her eyes that was… scary.

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Ichigo had been right to be wary. He'd never thought it with the way she looked, but Red Lady really liked fighting. And she knew a lot about it. She insisted he'd show her the handful of kata he remembered and then she helped him practice.

Mr Tortoise just sat on the side-lines when he felt like watching and laughed at him. He totally ignored how mean Red Lady was being.

"Practice makes perfect," she told him as she ruthlessly drove him to perform the sequence correctly, or else. "You do not wish to be hurt? Then improve yourself. I bet that girl, Arisawa Tatsuki, works to improve her techniques nearly every day. If you wish not to be beaten by her so easily then you will have to do so as well."

Ichigo whined to Mr Tortoise about it but to his horror, that only caused the more amiable spirit to involve himself in Ichigo's practice as well. Mostly as healer, but from time to time as a teacher. And here Ichigo had thought Mr Tortoise was nice, but he was as much as a slave driver as Red Lady. Just quieter.

It just wasn't fair. And Red Lady didn't even allow him to complain about it to his parents! Apparently she believed his mom and dad wouldn't understand anyway. Ichigo hated it but given how confused his mom and dad had looked when he'd told them he didn't want to practice so much but someone made him – not giving names, to avoid Red Lady's wrath – Ichigo had the feeling Red Lady was right.

Especially when his parents suggested having a talk with Tatsuki about reigning in her enthusiasm a bit. He barely managed to convince them that that wasn't necessary, really.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Red Lady's insistence for him to learn karate properly came in handy when a couple of boys from the class above him tried to harass him a few months later. They didn't like him because his hair was weird and he saw ghosts. What kind of reasons were that?

"Hm, you did not win, but I suppose for now that was not too terrible a performance," Red Lady judged critically. Ichigo had taken a few hits but thanks to the practice Mr Tortoise and Red Lady had forced on him, he had managed to avoid the worst of it. Maybe he shouldn't have shoved the other boys, but how could he have known that they would try to punch him?

"Remember, Ichigo-kun, next time they likely will not flee once you have bloodied their leader's nose. You still have a long way to go."

"Yes, Red Lady-sensei," Ichigo muttered, wincing when she made him pull up the leg of his pants so she could heal his scrapped knee. It was the worst injury he had. The rest were just a scattering of minor bruises. The other boys couldn't throw a proper punch at all. They had nothing on Tatsuki.

But Ichigo was starting to see why Red Lady thought he should get better at fighting. If this was going to happen more often…

"Don't look so glum, Ichigo-kun," Mr Tortoise told him. "It is better to learn now, now your sisters do not require your protection yet. That is your goal, is it not? To be able to defend your sisters and your mother? See it as getting ahead of the game."

Ichigo nodded, determined. Looked at Red Lady's hands, where the green glow of healing just faded. It still amazed him, how the spirits made his hurts disappear. "How do you do that?"

"By applying exact amounts of reiryoku to the affected areas and using precise manipulation to mend the injury."

"Oh. That's… difficult, right?" Ichigo asked, brow furrowed.

"It is certainly too advanced for you now," Red Lady agreed with a smirk. Poked the newly-healed skin. "To be honest, it is astounding it works at all. Usually we cannot do this. Apparently our influence on you goes even further than basic interactions."

Ichigo nodded distractedly, more concerned about the odd note of displeasure in her voice. "You don't like doing it?"

Red Lady went still. "I do not mind," she enunciated carefully. Then seemed to think better of what she was about to say and shook her head. "It does not matter, Ichigo. Do not concern yourself."

Ichigo still wanted to know but decided not to push. Grownups always got annoyed when you pushed too much.

He'd just have to keep his eyes and ears open. Red Lady liked him figuring things out by himself anyway.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Yuzu and Karin were ridiculous. When they had gotten the hang of standing and walking they set their minds on trying to imitate their brother's kata. Their mom couldn't stop cooing about how adorable it was.

Ichigo wasn't too shy to admit he thought so too. He did his best to teach them well. He didn't think it was a good idea to leave his little sisters to Red Lady. She could be demanding and mean and she was a perfectionist to the bone. Yuzu and Karin were still too little to be subjected to that. She'd make them cry for sure.

Red Lady just smirked at him and instead coached the lessons from the side-lines. She never missed a mistake and gave stern instructions when she saw him fumble. "Teaching others is a viable method to gain mastery of something," she said in response to his slightly wary and surprised looks.

Ichigo had the suspicion that that wasn't the only reason. If there was one thing he'd learned about the crimson spirit it was that she always had multiple reasons for doing things. He suspected that her other reason for not doing it was that his parents were less likely to notice the spirits' influence on his sisters. Ichigo was the one who was actually taking lessons to learn karate. It would be weird if his sisters suddenly started doing it too seemingly all on their own.

Ichigo still didn't understand why it would be such a problem if his parents knew. But Mr Tortoise was following along with Red Lady's secretive behaviour – albeit with a near-constant expression of indulgent amusement – so maybe it was just a spirit-thing, not wanting to be noticed.

Red Lady had only smiled when he asked and said he might one day understand, but she said that about a lot of things. Ichigo decided not to pursue the issue. She clearly didn't want to tell him and he didn't really care about keeping it quiet. If nothing else, it would give the idiots who bullied him for talking to spirits so much less reason to bother him.

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Not much happened after that. For several years, Ichigo's life was fairly routine. Hug his family, have breakfast, go to school. Get picked up from school by mom and go to the dojo, where he and Tatsuki tried to beat each other for the top spot of their class. Tatsuki still won more often than not, but thanks to Red Lady's and Mr Tortoise's insistent training Ichigo gave her a good fight for it. Next was going back home with his mom, spend time with his sisters and any spirit that decided to drop by, and go to sleep. Sometimes Red Lady or Mr Tortoise told them stories before bed. Their stories were always the most interesting. No offense to his mom and dad's stories, but theirs were stories for little kids. They were nice, but not as incredibly exciting as Red Lady's and Mr Tortoise's stories, which were full of monsters and warriors and mysterious people. Theirs were adult stories.

Okay, they were a bit scary sometimes – lot of times really – but Ichigo and his sisters loved them anyway. Well, Yuzu less than Karin, but even she was fascinated by them. The spirits told them in a way that almost made you think they'd been there when they happened. As if the stories were really real.

That made their stories way cooler than their dad's or even their mom's, even though they were very scary.

The stories became less cool when something weird happened when he was six.

After his sixth birthday Ichigo had started to see two odd, vague shades trailing after him. They were barely there, like faint mist, but definitely not just his imagination. One was pale while the other was dark. And they were slowly getting clearer as the years passed. It was a bit creepy. As if he was being haunted. Ichigo had never been scared of ghosts or yuurei before, but that was before he was being stalked by shades. What if they were evil spirits?!

It wasn't just him who saw them. His sisters, Red Lady and Mr Tortoise could see them too. His sisters thought they were weird too and wondered whether they too would get shades following them. That thought had been frightening. No way did he want weird stalker shades to follow his sisters!

It was just too bad that he had no idea how to keep it from happening. Really, Ichigo didn't even know what he had done to get the shades to follow him!

The spirits' reaction to the shades had been a bit odd, and quite disappointing to the worried Ichigo. Almost… expectant? But when he'd asked all Red Lady had said was that he shouldn't worry about them. It was hard not to worry about stalker shades, but Ichigo tried. It helped that so far, they hadn't done anything but hover somewhere in his vicinity.

Though lately that wasn't the case anymore. After his ninth birthday, it was as if he could hear them whisper sometimes. Faint, like rustling leaves outside or people talking too far away to recognize the words.

It had upped their level of creepy for a while, but Ichigo had gradually gotten used to it. They weren't really worse than the whispers of people talking about his hair or his ability to see ghosts and spirits behind his back. Just more constant. After some time, their whispers even became almost soothing. Like rain against the window could be, or the sound of the wind playing with the trees.

it took him a long time, but he came to like them, his shades. They made him feel safe. Watched over.

He still wasn't willing to risk some of them following his sisters though.

Unfortunately, that was not up to him to decide. He had been stunned when he discovered that some other shades had the gall to start stalking his little sisters. Just one for each of them, but more than enough to make Ichigo frantic with worry. They had showed up shortly after their fifth birthdays and were barely visible even on good days, but Ichigo was on to the sneaky things. He made sure to keep an eye on them.

Red Lady and Mr Tortoise thought it was all terribly amusing.

Traitors. On whose side where they anyway?

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

The next big thing after his sisters' shades showing up happened after a day of hard practice at the dojo. Tatsuki had been particularly spirited because she had a competition in a month and she was chomping at the bit to prove herself once more. Of course, she had taken her enthusiasm out on Ichigo.

"Ooow~," Ichigo muttered as a wrong twitch off his jaw pulled painfully on bruised muscles. His cheek really hurt. The cold of the pouring rain didn't help much with it.

His mother chuckled slightly, shifting her umbrella so it covered him a bit better. "My poor dear, was Tatsuki so hard on you?"

"It's nuts, 'Kaa-chan," Ichigo said, wiping the rain from his face as he clung to her hand. "Her training, I mean. I don't think I train as much as she does!"

"Hm, and you train nearly every day. I wonder whose idea it was for her to do so much?"

"Her own. I'm sure. She's crazy about karate. She wants to become a vale tudo champion."

"Yes, she said that before didn't she?" his mother said thoughtfully. "I have to wonder where she got that idea from."

"She says 'you can't call yourself good at fighting if you can't fight against people with different styles'. And 'vale tudo is all about fighting against different martial artists so it's the best competition ever'."

His mom laughed. "That's certainly true! At least, if you plan to fight lots of different people." A curious look. "Does she plan to fight lots of people?"

"Yes," Ichigo nodded. "How else is she gonna be a champion?"

"It is so nice. She already knows so well what she wants."

Ichigo silently agreed. He wasn't like Tatsuki. Red Lady had pointed that out often enough. Tatsuki had a drive that was unbelievable, a goal that fuelled her passion like coal did a fire. Ichigo didn't have that. Not like her. He fought because he wanted to learn how to protect his mom, but in all the years he'd been training nothing had ever happened where he could use what he'd learned. Not for real. Not even against bullies, because otherwise he'd get their parents after him. And while he was sure his mom and dad would always help him if he landed himself in that much trouble, he didn't want them to worry.

He was sure he wouldn't be alone in protecting mom and his sisters anyway. His dad was very silly, but Ichigo knew he could fight too. His dad joined him from time to time while he was practicing and had even given useful pointers once or twice. It was kinda fun, even though his dad was kinda clumsy and had done a few stupid things teaching him. One of them being hitting Ichigo so hard he'd had large bruises for weeks. His mom had been quite mad about that.

Red Lady always looked like she had a headache if she watched his dad for a while, though she did not seem to disapprove of his dad butting in on Ichigo's training. It was weird, but sometimes Red Lady just was that way.

She did always make sure to correct any mistakes he threatened to pick up from his dad though.

Something moved in his peripheral vision. The unexpected motion dragged Ichigo out of his thoughts made him turn his head. At first Ichigo thought it had been the white shade moving, but then he spotted a little girl in some kind of poncho on the riverbank.

His eyes went wide. What was that girl doing there? Didn't she know the water was dangerous so high? Didn't her mom warn her, like Ichigo's had?

She moved again, even closer to the water. The wind tugged harshly at her clothes, but she didn't seem concerned at all.

Ichigo was chilled by a sudden suspicion. Was she… going to jump in?

Without thinking he released his mother's hand, rushing towards the girl. He couldn't let her jump!

Just before he could climb over the railing, the black shade whispered, :Dead or alive?:

Reflexively, Ichigo focused on the feeling of the girl, so used to the spirits' favourite game he answered without even thinking about it. "Dead," he responded on autopilot.

His eyes widened when he realized what he'd just said. What it meant.

"Ichigo?"

Ichigo started, guiltily looking up to his mom. He avoided her eyes and slowly let go off the railing. "Sorry. I thought I saw something."

His mother's eyes didn't lose her worried look, but she smiled regardless. "I see. It must have been very interesting then. But please don't run off, Ichigo-chan? You scared your Okaa-chan for a moment there."

"I'm sorry, 'Kaa-chan," Ichigo repeated. He grabbed her hand and cast one last look at where the girl had been standing before he let himself be led away. She was dead. There was nothing he could save her from.

Instead, he looked at the dark shade with curiosity. That was the first time he had understood what the shades were saying. Would that happen more often from now on? He was a little exited. Maybe he'd finally find out what they were. It'd been bugging him for ages.

They had only walked a short distance when Ichigo's excitement faded and was replaced by a feeling of unease.

A little further, and it wasn't just uneasiness anymore. Something was not right.

Something… behind them?

Warily, he glanced over his shoulder. And froze.

"Ichigo?" his mom inquired, halting as well. She followed his gaze. Looked back at him, unperturbed as if she hadn't seen the giant hairy thing at all. "Is there something interesting there too?"

Stiffly, Ichigo nodded, not daring to take his eyes off the monster.

The monster started to laugh, and Ichigo tensed. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing straight up.

"So I was right," it chuckled. "You can see me."

It leered at Ichigo, its eyes crinkled with pleasure in the hollows of its hard bony face. "I bet you'll taste delicious."

That broke Ichigo out of his shocked stillness. "'Kaa-chan, run!" Ichigo screamed, tugging on his mom's hand.

Fortunately, Masaki didn't waste any time asking questions. She ran as fast as she could, dragging Ichigo along with her.

"What is it, Ichigo?" she asked, voice tense with urgency and fear. Her grip on his hand was so tight it was almost painful.

"It's a monster!" Ichigo panted as he tried to keep up with his mom's longer strides.

His mom let out an uncharacteristic sound of frustration when she felt Ichigo stumble. Without breaking stride she swept him up into her arms. Ichigo clutched his mom tightly, arms around her neck and legs locked around her waist. His eyes widened with fear as she realized how close the monster was behind them. It was still laughing, seeming to delight in the chase.

"Ichigo, grab my necklace," she ordered, panting.

"Huh?"

"My necklace! It's an emergency alarm! Just grab the pendant and twist the top off!"

Keeping a desperate grip with one arm, Ichigo felt around his mother's neck for the long thin chain. He was bounced around with every step his mother took, which made his task more difficult. After several tense seconds of fishing, he finally got his hands on the pendant. It was a silver lemniscate with a pearl in the bottom loop. He'd always thought it was just his mom's favourite necklace. She wore it every day. He hadn't thought it was important.

"Break it, Ichigo!" his mother urged him.

"R-right!"

Under the desperate force of his fingers, the lemniscate snapped in two like a dry twig. For a moment, Ichigo stared in surprise. He had expected the metal to be tougher…

He nearly swallowed his tongue when the pearl pulsed and turned black. Something rippled from it, brushing fleetingly against him like a passing wind.

The monster felt it too. It growled and lashed out, too fast for Ichigo to warn his mom.

He didn't realize they were airborne until they landed on grass on the other side of the railing. All breath was knocked out of him and he felt a burning pain in his leg. For a moment, he felt like he might pass out. Distantly, through the whistling in his ears, Ichigo heard a choked-off scream.

"You! What did you just do, little worm?" the monster growled menacingly. It prowled closer, amusement returning to its eyes as it watched Ichigo struggle to rise.

Ichigo squirmed, trying to get out from beneath his mom.

His mom, who, he realized with an icy chill down his spine, was struggling as well. It took him several long seconds before he realized the wet on his hands and pants wasn't just from the rain anymore.

His mom was bleeding. Badly.

"Ah, can't get up anymore can you, you pesky woman," the monster gloated. "Disgusting little things like you shouldn't interfere with my meals."

Masaki didn't hear it. "Ichigo," she gasped weakly. "Ichigo, you've got to run. Get away from here."

Ichigo tried to protest, but she cut him off. She gave him a brave smile, pain evident in the tight lines on her face. "Darling, I can't walk. You have to get away."

"Oh no, kiddo," the monster sneered. "You're not going anywhere. You know why?" It unfurled a long tongue that teasingly drifted out to run across his mother's bleeding back. "The moment you run I will eat this woman. And I will start from the legs up, so she'll bid you farewell with her dying screams."

Ichigo froze. Something white-hot and sour burned in his stomach. There was a tight, brittle feeling in his chest, as if something was about to break. Beside him, the black and white shades shivered, as if about to explode.

His mom. His mom. The nicest, prettiest, greatest mom in the world.

His mom was hurt. And the monster wanted to eat her.

There were no words that could describe the sheer magnitude of the desperate fury that rose within him.

No.

No!

"Noooo!" Ichigo screamed, lunging forward. He would not let that happen!

The thing in his chest shattered, and beside him, for a single moment, the shades were recognizable as people. Something bright and searing sprung from his hands as he tried to shove the tongue away from his mother. The light reached further than he ever could, splitting the long appendage in two and flashing across the bony face.

The monster reared back, a deafening scream tearing from its throat. The noise felt like stabs to Ichigo's ears, so loud was it.

Ichigo blinked as black spots suddenly filled his vision. Through the rising darkness, he saw that there was a thin fracture on the monster's face. The monster was furious, its eyes full of hate as they met Ichigo's.

Before it could lunge and spear him on its claws, a shadow tore through the monster as if it was no more than a picture made of rice paper.

The last thing Ichigo saw was a woman with dark skin and purple hair reaching out to catch him.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Ichigo woke to a wooden ceiling and Red Lady leaning over him, her face alight with fascination and an inexplicable sort of smugness. Next to her, Ichigo's shades were clearer than ever. Like really blurry images of people in long coats.

It took him a few moments to recall what had landed him here, but then he shot upright. So fast he had to lean forward for a second just to let the dizzy spinning die down.

The moment he could see straight he turned to Red Lady.

"Okaa-chan! My Okaa-chan! Is she okay?" he demanded frantically.

Red Lady let a perfect eyebrow climb. "You do not recall?"

"Recall what?" he asked fearfully. He didn't know what Red Lady was talking about. His mom had been hurt, he remembered that. But he didn't know what had happened after that!

Red Lady hummed. "After you lost consciousness you and your mother were moved to this place. From four in the afternoon to eight in the evening people have been busy stabilizing and healing your mother. It is now nine o'clock in the morning. The Hollow injured her badly enough to kill. She is lucky to be alive."

The question what on earth a Hollow was, was lost in Ichigo's rising panic. He jumped out bed, stumbling a little as one of his legs hurt too much to support him fully. He grabbed Red Lady's sleeve to keep himself steady. He was only vaguely aware that someone had replaced his clothes with his own pyjamas. He looked up to the crimson spirit, eyes wide and pleading. "Can you please take me to her? Please?"

An unexpected voice broke through the haze of panic and worry that surrounded his brain.

"… You know, when you said the kid was unusual I kinda expected something more normal." The voice sounded a little faint, as if they were caught by surprise so badly they had some difficulty processing what was happening. "Seeing and hearing us is already weird enough. Did that brat just seriously touch you?"

Ichigo turned towards the voice and blinked. Yelped and took a hasty step to the side so Red Lady was between him and the weird creature. Warily peeking around Red Lady's robes, he took a better look.

No wonder he hadn't realized they had company immediately. It was a being made of shadows, with round, glowing green eyes with slit pupils. It actually looked a bit like shadows in the shape of a very large, feral cat. Or maybe a tiger.

"B-bakeneko?" Ichigo spluttered, recognizing the creature as something he was sure had appeared in Red Lady's tales.

The large shadow-cat-creature snorted. "If that's what you like to think." Ghostly white fangs gleamed as the creature grinned. "I'm surprised you're bothering with me though. Weren't you going to look for your mom?"

With that, Ichigo's priorities snapped back into place. The cat-thing seemed to know Red Lady, so it was probably a spirit. He wasn't interested in unknown spirits right now.

"Red Lady?" Ichigo asked pleadingly as he looked up to the regal spirit, tugging lightly on her sleeve.

Red Lady tilted her head slightly, but then complied. With a small twist she freed her sleeve and she swept out of the room. Ichigo followed hot on her heels, hobbling as fast as he could to keep up. From the corner of his eyes, Ichigo spotted the shadowy bakeneko walking along. He ignored it.

To Ichigo it felt like ages, but after what was probably only a minute or two, they arrived at a closed shoji door.

Ichigo wiped his sweaty hands on his pyjamas. He wanted to enter, he really did, but he was so scared of what he would find.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a barely-there nudge. He whirled around, only to find the white shade standing close to him, instead of the bakeneko he'd expected. Somehow the humanoid shade managed to convey a startling amount of impatience.

He looked up to the white shade's hazy face. Its head was tilted as if saying 'what are you waiting for?'

He felt a tremulous smile form on his lips. He nodded firmly to the white shade. The white shade was right. He wouldn't figure out anything standing around like this.

Taking a deep breath, he carefully eased the door open and peeked inside.

He let out a shaky sigh of relief when he saw his mom sitting upright in bed, a large pile of pillows supporting her back. His dad was next to her, holding her hand and speaking in quiet, worried tones. His mom grimaced at his dad's words, but her eyes were resolute.

They looked up when he stepped fully into the room. The spirits remained in the doorway, but Ichigo hardly paid attention to them. "Okaa-chan?" Ichigo asked hesitantly.

His mom smiled and spread her arms wide. With a sob, Ichigo threw himself into her embrace.

"My dear Ichigo," she murmured softly into his hair. "You did so well, darling. Okaa-chan is very proud of you."

Ichigo sniffed, burying his tears in the comforting warmth of his mom's shoulder. He clung to her, never wanting to let go. She'd been hurt so bad, he'd been so scared she was going to die….

When his sobs finally tapered off, he sat upright so he could look at her better. "Are you alright, Okaa-chan?" he asked, wiping the last tears off his face. He gasped when he spotted a couple of bandages beneath his mom's loose shirt. He scrambled off her lap as fast as he could, fretting all the while. "Oh no, did I hurt you? I didn't mean to hurt you! I'm so sorry-"

His dad laughed, pulling him in an embrace. His mom chuckled weakly. "Don't worry Ichigo-chan," she assured him. "Your Okaa-chan is made of sterner stuff than that. I am mostly healed by now."

Ichigo blinked at her. "Really?" he asked dubiously. His mom had been bleeding really badly! People normally didn't heal that fast, did they? The only ones Ichigo knew who could heal people that fast were spirits, but Red Lady had said she'd never been able to affect someone that way.

His mom sighed, her smile turning a little sad. "As much as I ever will," she admitted.

His dad frowned. "My love-"

She shook her head resolutely. "No Isshin. You heard Kisuke-san. I will not give him false hope. It's better that he knows right away. You know I rather have that he hears it from me than that he has to figure it out on his own." She took a bracing breath and gave Ichigo a pained smile. "I'm sorry Ichigo, but the monster really hurt your 'Kaa-chan."

Ichigo felt his lips tremble. His eyes stung as if he'd gotten sand in them. "Okaa-chan? Is… is something wrong?"

His mom's expression was sad and regretful. "I'm sorry, but it is unlikely I will be able to walk again." She rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, attempting an encouraging smile. "I will be fine, but I guess you'll have to get used to your dad picking you up from now on."

For the second time that day, Ichigo fled into his mother's embrace to cry.

Yuurei: ghosts and ghost-like beings. There is no real consensus on what the difference is between yuurei and youkai and where human ghosts belong in this, but this is how I define yuurei for now. Ichigo mentions ghosts separately from yuurei because for him, ghosts are things he knows are real, while he has only heard about yuurei through stories.

Bakeneko: lit. 'changing cat'. The first kanji, 'bake-', means to change form, to transform. 'neko' means cat. There are many different cat-like creatures in Japanese folklore which can be (and often are) confused with the bakeneko, such as the nekomata. However, the name implies that it specifically refers to a shape-shifting cat (or something that shape-shifts into a cat, stories aren't always clear on that).

For clarities sake, the stories Red Lady and Mr Tortoise tell are not stories about their wielders. Most of them are traditional stories from Japanese folklore, but because Red Lady and Mr Tortoise have experience with a fair amount of the scenarios they can tell them rather convincingly. The stories Masaki and Isshin tell are more on the level of Disney and the more child-friendly movies of Ghibli.

I'm taking some creative liberties with the alarm-system-cum-necklace, but given that both Masaki and Isshin know on a personal level how dangerous Hollows are to the unwary, I think it's reasonable to assume they had ways to warn Urahara and his crew in case something went wrong. Canon supports this very tentatively. In canon, Grand Fisher disappeared after killing Ichigo's mom. However, we know it targeted people who could see it, and it wasn't Masaki who responded to the lure. So why did Grand Fisher leave Ichigo alive? Given Grand Fisher's personality, I rather doubt it was voluntary. So Grand Fisher was likely chased off by something. Another Hollow wouldn't let Ichigo live for the same reasons as Grand Fisher, so it likely was a Shinigami. There aren't that many Shinigami in Karakura, and if there's someone who'd have the foresight and ability to give Masaki and Isshin warning devices, it would be Urahara. Hence the necklace.

As for why Masaki isn't fully healed: remember, she's human. A powerless human soul in a very ordinary human body. And there's no Orihime to reject the damage. I know we see a lot of miraculous recoveries in Bleach even when people only use healing kidou, but those always happen when people are in spirit form. There are two reasons why I think this matters a lot:

A) given the amount of damage the Shinigami can survive (such as being run through, thrown through buildings, have several-feet-deep craters slammed with their bodies, being cut in half, and even burned to crisp) we can safely say they are significantly sturdier than humans. If they weren't, Ukitake, Hiyori and Yamamoto would have certainly died in the battle against Aizen. I assume that the strength of the soul and whether or not they're a Visored may play a role in what they can recover from as well.

B) when Ichigo gets stabbed by Byakuya, some of the injuries transfer to his human body. When he pulls open his shirt to show Urahara he's healed, we see very clear, jagged scars from where he'd been hit (which is odd; given how sharp katana are those should have been thin straight scars, but let's ignore that for now). Scars are basically remains of the damage that was wrought and proof of imperfect healing (as in, some damage simply cannot be repaired). Ichigo's scars alone show that healing kidou isn't perfect and can't get rid of all damage.

Now, to heal Masaki, Urahara and Tsukabishi very likely used healing kidou. Masaki was hit in the back badly enough that in canon, she died very quickly (I assume that even if a soul is eaten, as long as the body is no harmed it will keep functioning for a while; I've based this on the fact that you have real-life examples of people who are definitely dead but whose bodies are still technically alive). Given the amount of blood she lost and the damage we know Grand Fisher's claws can cause (stabbing straight through people without visible difficulty), I think it's safe to assume that its attack has a good chance of severely damaging her spine. Scars in your spine? Those are bad. With injuries like that it is likely that even in the best case, she will have difficulty walking. At worst, she will never be able to move or feel her legs again.

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