This is a canon complaint because I refuse to accept chapter 686 existence. But, I’m doing a fix it fic, where everyone starts to regret their bad choices and angst ensures. But, it’s going to get a happy ending don’t worry, but we gotta get through the bs first. In other words this is a divorce Au.
Warning: Anti-canon pairings, anti-bleach ending, you’ve been warned. If like said canon pairings then don’t read this.
Comments are much appreciate it. and Thanks to @hashtagartistlife for the inspiration for the Ishida’s is Kazui’s father theory.
Regrets are hard to swallow.
It’s like a bitter pill.
Scraping all the way down.
Blistering you’re throat raw,
And feeling like your choking something large, when it’s barely the size of a pebble.
No one likes regrets, yet we all live with Them. Whether big or small. Because, No one likes living their life wishing they couldn’t of done better.
So, many times are we filled with “ I should of done this or I should have done that”
It’s always that way, Ichigo thinks. That’s how life just is.
How many times has heard those phrases repeated over and over again at work.
Old men and women, middle-aged men and woman, constantly complaining and grumbling, about I wish I did this. I wish I had done this. I wish. I wish. I wish.
It’s like a broken record. Repeating over and over again.
Ichigo was tired of this. He was tired of this world and everything it offered.
The honking horns. The bustling people. The glaring lights. It was all, so tiresome.
He wanted to grab fate by the horns,
He slammed his hand upon his boss desk, with his crumbled up letter of resignation clenched in his fist. And left without another word.
He cleared his work space and tossed everything into the garbage where it belonged.
He wasn’t meant for his world and everything it offered. Ichigo kurosaki was so much more than this.
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It was late night when Ichigo returned home. The lights were off, all except for the small light above the stove. His shoulders felt lighter and he felt heavy due to exhaustion. This night was more them he bargained for, it felt as though he were gone for days, despite it being only a couple of hours. He just wanted to sleep
“ Ichigo.” His heart stopped, he peered at the clock emitting the numbers 5:00 am in bright red. He didn’t want to talk to her, at least not now anyways . Then again Ichigo was always the one to cut the chase and get it over with.
" I’m in the kitchen" He heard her gentle foot falls press against the reckty stairs.
Once, she entered, Ichigo had taken a seat a the dinner table. But, something was different, that look in his eyes were those of
Ichigo had made a decision and so, had she.
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Neither of them said a word.
“ Can I ask you a question.”
The coffee pot sizzled again.
“ Do you still love her, Kuchiki-san. Be honest.”
Ichigo’s entwined his fingers together.
Don’t lie. Zangetsu bellowed.
No. No more. No more facades, no more lying, just stone, cold, clean truth.
She shook. She felt the tears swell in the back of her eyes. She knew the truth, she knew, that was no secret, she had known all along, but had denied everything in order to ease the horrid, pain in her chest.
She leaned back in her chair, gazing outside the partially covered window. The rain had come to a drizzle.
“ You hate the rain don’t you.”
Ichigo’s gaze follows hers to that of star-filled sky, slightly blocked by the disheveled curtains.
“ I hate it. Always have, It serves as a reminder of all my failures , of all the people I couldn’t protect, it’s depressing.”
“y’know, I always enjoyed the rain. I wanted to be the rain that could connect to people’s heart, like the sky and the earth. I wanted more than anything to connect to you’re heart. B-but-” the fresh, warm tears drizzled down her cheeks. “ Someone had already done that. It was Kuchiki-san. She dried you’re rain. Even, back then when we barely knew each other, you always seem to be gloomy and sad, but when Kuchiki-san came into our lives everything changed. You started to smile more often, and laugh and have fun.”
“ Was it that noticeable.”
She nods her head, straining to keep her eyes focused on anything, but him.
Ichigo couldn’t see her tears. Like always he never noticed. He only saw the surface, a metaphor for their whole relationship, surface level, shallow.
Though, her hair blocked his view of her face.
His head was down “ Where’s Kazui?”
“ He’s sleeping over at Tatsuki’s place.” she whispers.
He didn’t inquiry any further, as he watched the lights of care flash by the window, causing the room, momentarily ablaze.
“ Ori-Inoue.” he could never get use to using her first name.
“ I’ve decided to go back to the Soul Society. ”
The air conditioner, crackled and vibrated.
He waited for a response.
“ I’ve made a decision too. W-we should separate.”
It was Ichigo’s turn to nod, out of the corner of her eyes.
He was thinking the same thing then, she choked internally. No inquiry, no argument, just silent agreement.
Meaning ichigo had no qualms about divorcing, about leaving her.
Her fantasy was crumbling right before her, decaying and eroding into ashes, and useless blobs of black.
It stung more than she cared to admit, in the end she couldn’t make Ichigo happy. In the end it was always someone else. In the end, despite her efforts, despite her sacrifices, despite everything, she couldn’t be his light, couldn’t be his everything, couldn’t be his rain.
Including the fact, that she still couldn't understand him, after all these years, which just added to load of weight hanging upon her shoulders.
Ichigo was not how she imagine him to be, up close and personal. All those years viewing him through rose colored glasses, had completely warped her perspective of him, he was no prince nor a knight in shining armor.
“ I’ve been holding you down, I don’t want to do that to you, I don’t want you to force yourself to be with me or Kazui. I want you to do what’s best for you.” it felt like her each word was like having her teeth pulled and yanked, painfully, from her mouth.
There was a brittle silence, where the only sound was Ichigo tapping his foot against the kitchen floor. His chin rested on his entangled hand and his brows were raised and furrowed.
“ Inoue, I’m sorry.” his mind was blank, he honestly, didn’t know what to say or do, those were the only words that circled his thoughts.
“ What about Kazui? What are we going -
She wipes her tears away with the corner of her palm, as she looks him in the eyes “ Tell him the truth the best way I can.
She shakes her head. “ I-I’ll take care of him, your not responsible for him. I am. I lied to you, to both of you, it’s time I own up to it.”
He gazes at her passively - unable to conjure a retort.
Ichigo still didn’t know how to feel about Kazui. He couldn’t just abandon him, he just couldn’t stop looking at him as his own son, even though he wasn’t. He had raised him, loved him, took care of him, he did everything for him all these years.
How, would Kazui feel knowing the truth, would he even understand in the first place, would he care or would he cry, would he rebel. Would he come to hate them both.
“ I can’t believe this is happening.” Yuzu sighs solemnly.
“ It was bound to happen eventually.”
“ Karin!” Yuzu grabs the hem of her robe.
“ What!? Don’t yell in my ears, Yuzu!” she shoves her sister’s face away.
“ How can you act like that. Ichi-nii and Orihime are splitting up.”
“ Like I said before, it was bound to happen.” Karin shrugs, as she sips on her sake.
“ What do you mean?” her brows crinkled, perplexed.
“ Can’t you figure it out for yourself.”
“ It’s called observation. Subtle details.” she tapped her younger sister’s forehead.
“ Meaning, what? And stop patronizing me, I’m not a child!” she swats her sister’s hand away.
“ Oh! Come on, Yuzu, you’ve it noticed just as much as I did. Even the goat noticed, which is a feet in it of itself. Ichi-nii doesn’t love Inoue-san, and you, and everybody else with a functioning brain could figure that out.” she mumbles exasperated.
Yuzu knew that, she wasn’t that oblivious, she took note of the subtle details. The way he seemed to be uncomfortable using her first name, how reserved and passive he was around her and all the forced smiles.
“ Then why did he even marry Inoue-san in the first place.” Yuzu mumbles, slumping onto the wooden table, her face pressed against the smooth oak.
“ How the hell am I suppose to know. I can’t read minds. Maybe he pity her or something or just couldn’t say no to someone sensitive like Inoue-san.” Karin just wanted the conversation to end. She felt no reason to dwell on it any longer than she needed to, Ichigo was a grown-ass man, he can make his own decisions, it wasn’t her place to bud in or tell him how to live his life.
Yuzu sighs lifting herself up, heavier than before, her face pressed against her hand, as she stares out the window. It’s pouring, no-stop, and for some reason it just makes her feel more depressed than she had at hearing the news.
Why is life, so complicated, she wonders.
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“ Are you serious! You’re kidding right? Right, come one Tatsuki you’re just joking right. “ Keigo’s eyes dart from Tatsuki’s ire twisted face and Mizurio passive gaze. “ She’s joking right, Mizurio?”
Chad also shrugs before returning to munching on his fries.
“ My Poor, poor Hime! “ Chizuru sobs into her hands “ I knew it wouldn’t last, I just knew this would happen. Her heart ‘s probably shattered into a gazillion pieces. That damn Kurosaki! “ the red head slams her fist into the counter of the bar, shaking it and spilling drinks in the process and gritted her teeth.
“ Grounding your teeth is a start of a bad habit.” Mizurio says.
“Shut-up! I don’t have time for your smart-ass comments. The next, time I see him, I’m cutting off his balls. Disgusting male pig.” Chizuru mumbles to herself.
“ Well, Your not the only one who wants castrate Kurosaki.” Mizurio points towards Tatsuki, who’s expression was blank and unreadable, as she absentmindedly sips on her beer, tapping her foot in annoyance.
“ It’s true then.” Keigo stares at his former classmates in complete bafflement.
“ Wow.” Kegio glances down at his plate of half- eaten hot wings, somberly “ I guess what they say about teenage romance being fleeting is true.”
“ Shut it, Keigo!” Tatsuki snaps, grabbing him by the fringe of his shirt.
“ Hey!Hey, watch the fabric, I just bought this shirt!”
“ I don’t give a crap about your stupid shirt!”
“ Y’know I didn’t mean anything about that statement.”
“ You think Ichigo cheated on her, or was it the other way around? Is Kazui even Ichigo’s biological kid” now it was Mizurio to face Tatsuki’s unyielding wrath.
“ Mizuro! What the hell! What are you trying to imply about, Hime!” she released Keigo from her iron grip and tugged Mizurio up by the hem of his t-shirt, though his expression didn’t change much.
“ I was just asking questions.”
“ Well, keep your questions and shove it up your ass, and don’t share them at all!”
“ Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”
“ He’s asking why your, so pissy this morning.”
“ I know what he meant, Keigo, so shut your trap!”
Chad, and surprisingly, Chizuru remained quiet through the whole exchange. Though, on Honsho’s part she was too busy envisioning multiple ways she could mutilate Kurosaki Ichigo’s reproductive organs to pay attention to the noisy, commotion.
“ You shouldn’t say stuff like that out loud.” Chad adds in.
“ I wasn’t doing it to malicious.”
Tatsuki sighs, dropping Mizurio back down into his seat before returning to her beer.
“ Rumors spread.” Chad spoke once more.
An awful muteness befalls the group with everyone picking at their food.
“ So-umm-” Keigo couldn’t take the dreary quiet anymore and spoke up.
“ I heard Ichigo’s going back to the soul society.” Tatsuki murmurs, her eyes downcast.
“ Really, I thought he gave that up.”
“ Seems he changed his mind after, he ran into that red-hair soul reaper with the freakish tattoos, again or something.
“ So, he’s just leaving Inoue-san and his kid.”
“ No, Hime willingly took Kazui with her and moved out, a while ago.”
“ Wow. Then where’s Ichigo’s staying.”
“ He’s at that creepy hat guy’s shop, he’s staying until he’s able to go to the other side.”
Another silence consumes the gang, each taking in and reacting to the new found information.
A/N: So, here’s part four. I’m really enjoying writing this fic. I hope I kept everyone in character. Though, I made Ichigo’s friends/classmates and family a little insensitive, but it was mostly for humorous effect.
