The Gears of Fate

In the World of the Living, in an inconspicuous hospital in Karakura Town, a boy lies on his bed, carefully recalling what happened earlier. During the day, he clearly saw a monster chasing him and a girl, or rather, a ghost.

He could see ghosts since he was a child. At first, they were blurry, but as he grew older, the boy could see them very clearly, and he became used to it.

But during the day, he saw a girl dressed in black. She suddenly appeared, drew her sword, and killed the monster. No matter how he called out to her, she ignored him and walked away.

Suddenly, he saw a black butterfly, the same butterfly that had appeared when the girl had appeared earlier. He watched as the girl from the daytime slowly entered the boy's house through the window...

"There are two kinds of souls in the world. One is called 'Zheng,' which is an ordinary spirit, like the ghosts you usually see. The other is 'Xu,' which attacks both the living and the dead and devours their souls. That is, the so-called evil spirits. Do you still have any questions?" The girl showed the boy a booklet illustrating the difference between souls.

"Let's start by asking why your paintings are so ugly..."

"Then let me continue. Our job as Shinigami is twofold: first, to escort the Hollows to the Soul Society, as we just did; second, to destroy the Hollows..."

"I'm not called Shinigami, I'm Rukia Kuchiki."

"I am Ichigo Kurosaki!" In the end, the girl Zanpakuto into the boy's body, and Ichigo Kurosaki finally embarked on the path of a Shinigami.

After successfully defeating the Hollow, Ichigo Kurosaki returned home. He thought Rukia would return to the Soul Society, but he didn't know that Rukia had just been about to transfer half of her Spiritual Power to him. However, he had unintentionally absorbed almost all of Rukia's Spiritual Power, Rukia too weak to return to the Soul Society.

Just then, Rukia suddenly saw a figure dressed in green, wearing a green and white hat and wooden clogs, walk up to her and say, "This Grim Reaper seems troubled. Is it because you've overused your Spiritual Power? Don't worry, I can provide you with Gigai for free~"

Rukia looked at the man in front of her with a mixture of disbelief and skepticism, but she had no choice but to accept it, because she could only temporarily reside within the Gigai to slowly recover her Spiritual Power. It wasn't as simple as her Spiritual Power being completely depleted; it had been forcibly taken by Ichigo Kurosaki, and she wouldn't fully recover without several months of rest.

She only had a month to carry out her mission in the World of the Living. In the Gigai, she should be able to recover about half of her strength in that month. By then, she would have no problem returning to Soul Society. And no one would know that she had secretly transferred her Spiritual Power to humans.

So she had no choice but to accept the Gigai Urahara gave her, although Rukia always felt like she'd been tricked...

After Rukia left, another voice rang out behind Urahara, "Kisuke, I never expected you to be such an unscrupulous businessman..." At this moment, Ye Yang appeared behind Urahara and walked slowly towards him.

This time, Ye Yang came to the World of the Living to complete a mission. The mission lasted for a month, which allowed Ye Yang to come to the World of the Living openly and legitimately. He could also see many old friends and witness the growth of the young Kurosaki.

"Well... there's no other way, is there? This is the only solution I can think of right now. If this method can destroy the Hōgyoku, then I don't mind being a bad guy for once."

Ye Yang chuckled, "Really? That sounds so grand, it's unlike you. But I hope you succeed."

"Ye Yang, you didn't come to the World of the Living just for this, did you? Do you want to come back with me?" Urahara asked.

Ye Yang thought for a moment and replied, "I will go, but not now. Let's go see Uncle Isshin first; it's been twenty years since I've seen him. Kisuke, find me a Gigai, but of course, I don't want one like that."

"Of course, no problem, but are you really not going to try the new product?"

"Don't want!"...

The next day, Ye Yang, dressed as a human in his Gigai, walked down the street, heading towards the Kurosaki Family. As soon as he arrived on the street, he saw a boy coming out of the Kurosaki Family. The boy was Ichigo Kurosaki, because his bright orange hair was particularly eye-catching.

Ye Yang merely glanced at him indifferently and brushed past the boy, while Ichigo felt as if he had been seen through at a glance, as if he had no secrets at all in front of him.

Fortunately, Ye Yang's gaze only flashed by, and Ichigo didn't think too much about it before hurrying off to school.

He walked slowly to the front door of the Kurosaki Family, where two girls carrying schoolbags walked out side by side. Seeing Ye Yang standing in front of her door, the blonde girl asked, "Excuse me... what are you doing standing in front of my house? Are you looking for someone?"

"Oh, I'm looking for Isshin Kurosaki. Does he live here?"

The black-haired girl shouted, "Dad! He's looking for your guest!" Then she said to Ye Yang, "Dad's inside. You can go in and find him. Come on, Yuzu, we're going to be late."

The girl named Yuzu wanted to say something more, but then she remembered she was late and didn't ask anything more. She then followed the black-haired girl.

Ye Yang walked straight into the courtyard and saw Isshin repairing the house. "Who is it? Karin actually said she was looking for my guest?"

However, he was stunned when he saw Ye Yang. "Ye Yang? What are you doing here? How did you find this place?" Isshin looked at Ye Yang with a puzzled expression.

"I came to the World of the Living to carry out a mission and just stopped by to see you. As for how I found this place, don't you know how Urahara and I are concerned about each other?" Ye Yang rolled his eyes, as if he were looking at an idiot.

"Were those your two daughters just now? They're so cute!" Ye Yang said with a smile.

Isshin exclaimed in alarm, "Let me tell you, if you dare lay a finger on my two daughters, I'll fight you to the death!"

A large bead of sweat appeared on Ye Yang's forehead. What kind of nonsense was this? Even after twenty years, they were still so out of touch. "I'm old enough to be their grandfather... And is that boy your son?"

"Did you see that kid?"

"Hmm, you haven't noticed, have you? He's not just a human with strong Spiritual Power anymore," Ye Yang said casually.

How could Isshin not have noticed this? But he didn't stop him. As far as his Spiritual Power was concerned, he was bound to come into contact with the Grim Reaper sooner or later. It was an inevitable thing. Since that was the case, it was better to let him come into contact with it sooner rather than later.

Isshin simply nodded without saying a word. "So what do you plan to do?" Ye Yang continued to ask.

After thinking for a while, he finally said slowly, "Let nature take its course..."

Ye Yang laughed heartily, "It really is an answer you could come up with."

Ye Yang and Isshin were chatting all afternoon when suddenly the door opened, and two cute voices came from inside. "I'm back! Oh, isn't this the big brother from this morning?"

Yuzu looked at Ye Yang strangely, then remembered that Ye Yang had come to see his father. She then turned her gaze to Isshin, "This is a friend I used to know. He's in Karakura Town on a business trip, so he stopped by to see me."

"Hello, I am Ye Yang Shihoin." Ye Yang returned the greeting with a smile.

"Hello, I'm Yuzu Kurosaki." She then pointed to the black-haired girl next to her and said, "This is my older sister, Karin Kurosaki. Um... what should I call you, Uncle Shihoin?"

Ye Yang, a burly man, said, "Am I that old? I always call Uncle Isshin '."

Yuzu nodded. "I don't think so either." Ye Yang looks to be around twenty years old, definitely not mature. Besides, he hates being called "uncle" and finds it very unpleasant.

"Just call me Ye Yang, 'Shihoin' sounds so awkward."

"Okay, Mr. Ye Yang, please give me your guidance. Dad, I want to go cook," Yuzu said and went into the kitchen. Since her mother left, she had been in charge of cooking.

Karin seemed uninterested in Ye Yang, merely offering a polite greeting before returning to her room with the words, "Call me when it's time to eat."

Ichigo later, Ichigo returned, only to see Isshin rush over and slap his son across the face. "Boy, your reflexes have slowed down!"

Ichigo retaliated quickly, punching Isshin in the Isshin and sending him flying. "Hey, can you stop playing these boring games as soon as you get home?"

Ye Yang was speechless; this really suited Isshin's personality...

Ichigo Ye Yang frown slightly, and noticing that the man in front of him looked familiar, Ichigo said, "Dad, we have guests at home, why are you acting like this? Don't make a fool of yourself."

"There's a flaw!" Isshin kicked at him, but Ichigo skillfully parried it, seemingly already used to his eccentric father. "He's an old friend of mine, named Ye Yang Shihoin," Isshin introduced, despite the playful banter.

"Hello, I am Ichigo Kurosaki. Have we met somewhere before?"

Ye Yang: "I am Ye Yang Shihoin. We met this morning."

Ichigo immediately remembered the person he had seen that morning, nodded knowingly, and since the person was looking for his father, there was no need for him to ask any further questions. "I'm going back to my room now," Ichigo said as he returned to his room.

At this moment, Ye Yang noticed that there seemed to be another person's Spiritual Pressure nearby. If he wasn't mistaken, it should Rukia. Since she was already here, he figured he should leave. Ye Yang didn't intend to change anything; he was mainly here today to check on Isshin's condition.

"Well, I have some things to attend to, so I'll be going now."

The Yuzu came out of the kitchen and asked, "Mr. Ye Yang, would you like to stay for dinner before you leave?"

"No, goodbye!" With that, he walked straight out of Isshin's house, his destination of course being Urahara Shop!