Chapter Text
The insistent banging on the door downstairs was what had originally woken the young boy up. What kept him up was his father bursting into the room, a look of panicked urgency on his face. He grabbed the clothes thrown over his son’s chair ready for the weekend and told him to get dressed while he rummaged through the closet to find a coat.
“Hurry up, son,” he whispered, quickly pushing the correct arms into the correct holes in the shirt after noticing the boy had gotten in a tangle.
“But dad,” the boy complained, rubbing his eyes, “It’s still dark outside.”
“I know Ichigo, but this is important,” the man grabbed his son’s arm and pulled him out of his room. Before he knew what was happening, Ichigo was being pushed through the door that led into the small storage cupboard at the top of the stairs.
“Dad, wha-”
“Quiet Ichigo,” the boy looked up from inside the cupboard as his father knelt in front of him, “Listen son, this is really important. Can you stay really quiet for me? No matter what happens, just stay really still and quiet. Can you do that for me?”
Scared by the determined look on his father’s face, Ichigo simply nodded with wide eyes. A crash from downstairs made them both jump and the man suddenly stood up, closing the door to the cupboard. Enveloped in darkness, Ichigo could only sit there and try to follow his father’s instructions. The fear in his voice and tenseness of his body meant that Ichigo didn’t even question what was happening. He was beyond confused, but too scared by his father’s fear to do anything about it.
It seemed like every sound below was amplified by the darkness; his ears making up for what his eyes couldn’t do. The pointed ears covered in small orange fuzz atop his head dropped to the sides when he heard his mother’s sob above the murmuring below. His mother had been uneasy over the last few weeks. He didn’t know why but more than once he’d found his father comforting her before they noticed him and put on fake smiles.
“Where’s the boy?” an aggressive voice came up the stairs, moving closer.
“He’s not here,” Ichigo’s father was also coming back, his voice angrier than Ichigo had ever heard.
“Don’t lie to me, it won’t work,” came the response.
“Please!” Ichigo’s mother jumped into the conversation. A crash, a sob and the sound of a scuffle came again, “Please, not him. Take me, he doesn’t deserve this!”
“You’ll both be going,” the stranger’s voice boomed now that it had reached the top of the stairs, “If you don’t stop resisting you’ll end up much worse than necessary.”
A moments pause came before the cupboard door swung open.
“There you are,” a large man sneered down at him, muscles bulging beneath his too small uniform. His sweaty brow took up too much of his face, making him look more like a gorilla than a man. Ichigo whimpered and shrunk back against the cardboard boxes he’d been sat between but the stranger just stuck out a large hand and grabbed his shirt. He was yanked from his hiding place and shove into the firm grip of another terrifying stranger. Ichigo’s tail was tucked as far between his legs as it would go, his ears down and eyes wide. He saw his father being restrained by two more men. His mother was kneeling on the floor, tears streaming down her face and clutching her bleeding tail.
“Mummy,” Ichigo called out in distress, trying to wrestle out of the stranger’s grip to get to her. He didn’t understand what was happening and was so terrified he was in serious danger of wetting himself in front of all the adults.
“Not my son,” his mother called out, pulling herself to her feet and attempting to move toward him.
“Masaki, no!” his father’s shout came too late. One of the men had already pulled out a gun and the bullet had pierced her heart before she’d finished speaking. She teetered for a moment at the top of the stairs before a cough left her lungs accompanied by a splatter of blood. The man holding the gun simply sneered and sent out a kick aimed at Masaki’s knee. Her husband struggled against the pair holding him back while Ichigo could only look on in shock as his mother was sent flying head first down the stairs. Her body lay still at the bottom.
“You bastards,” Isshin’s voice came out almost like the snarl only his son and wife were capable of, “How could you-“
“No!” the man gripping Ichigo interrupted, “How could you? You bred with that animal and created this.” He shook Ichigo hard enough that the boy let out a cry of pain.
“This is your fault,” the original man who’d yanked Ichigo from the cupboard continued his coworker’s statement, “Just be glad your daughters came out as normal humans. At least you get to keep them.”
Ichigo was dragged down the stairs, past his mother who still lay on the floor, and out onto the street. Out there there were multiple vans, the sounds of crying and screaming and the general hum of confused conversation.
“Dad!” Ichigo shouted out, tears streaming down his face, “Dad, I don’t want to go with them! Dad, where’s mum? Dad, help me!” He twisted his head back to see his father trapped behind guards at the door as the stranger continued to drag him further away from his home.
“Stop squirming and get in there,” the stranger commanded as he opened the back of one of the vans. Ichigo yelled out as he was forced inside, the door being slammed behind him. He blinked a few times, eyes adjusting to the low light levels, and took in his surroundings. There were ten shifters crammed into the van with him. Most looked as scared as he felt.
“Oh great,” an old man in the far back muttered, ears drawn back aggressively, “They’re even lumping hybrids in with us now.”
“Shut up,” the woman to Ichigo’s right snapped, “Now isn’t the time for your prejudices. Can’t you see how scared the poor kid is?” She looked up at Ichigo and patted the floor next to her, “Come and sit down.”
Shaking where he stood and in shock about the sudden events of the last few minutes, Ichigo was unable to move until the van jolted to a start. He stumbled, almost falling into the woman’s lap, and scrambled back until he was sat tucked as far into the corner as he could be.
“I’m Yoruichi,” she smiled at him, giving the space he obviously needed for now, “Don’t worry, I’ll look after you.”
It took Ichigo almost a full day to mutter his name to the woman who refused to let him out of her sight. By that time Karakura was long gone and they’d been shoved into a large city fenced off by barbed wire that ran as far as the eye could see. The last thing Ichigo saw before the gate shut on the group he’d travelled with was the sneering face of the man who’d shot his mother.