Ichigo's Shock

Ichigo charged toward his home like a madman. Compared to Orihime Inoue, who was curled up in Ichigo's arms, Rukia Kuchiki was carried in his hand like a chick. As for Ichigo's own body, it was held tightly by Orihime.

Rukia could only shield her eyes with her hands. How was this guy Ichigo so fast? He had already far surpassed the speed of her original Flash Step. The fierce airflow forced Rukia to protect herself.

Before long, Ichigo saw his home. From far away, he saw a Hollow pouncing toward the Kurosaki Residence.

Ichigo panicked. He forcibly shoved Rukia into Orihime's arms, left behind a sentence, and erupted with spiritual pressure again as he charged toward that Hollow.

"I'm leaving it to you, Orihime!" Orihime held Rukia and used Fullbring Light to stand in midair as well. The only reason she had relied on Ichigo for travel was that his brute-force way of moving was simply too fast for her to keep up with.

The instant he launched himself forward, Ichigo had already gripped the hilt behind his back. Spiritual pressure clung to his Zanpakuto as if it cost nothing. Earlier, Ichigo had already learned that the greater his spiritual pressure, the greater its power. He wanted to slash the Hollow attacking the Kurosaki Residence into dust with one strike!

Yet before Ichigo could swing his draw-slash, he saw a blue Reishi arrow pierce straight through the Hollow. Ichigo froze where he stood, unsure what to do with the spiritual pressure gathered on his Zanpakuto.

A familiar figure walked out of the Kurosaki Residence. She held a Reishi crossbow in her hand. "Oh dear, I accidentally damaged the wall too. Honey, come see whether you can fix it."

"Coming, darling!" A bearded middle-aged man kept clowning around beside the wall, praising the woman at his side while commenting on the hole in the wall.

Ichigo looked carefully. Weren't that man and woman his parents?

Ichigo quickly launched himself to the front door and pointed at Masaki Kurosaki's crossbow as he demanded, "Mom, what is going on here?!"

"Eh? Ichigo, you became a Bleach? Let Mom have a look!"

Without giving Ichigo a chance to speak, Masaki rushed over to hug him. Meanwhile, Isshin secretly wiped away tears beside them, though it was unclear whether he was praising the deep bond between mother and son or lamenting Ichigo's growth.

"Wait, Mom, another Hollow is coming!"

Ichigo sensed a Hollow's spiritual pressure nearby again and tried to break free from Masaki's embrace. But Masaki would hardly let him have his way. With a backhanded shot, she killed the nearby Hollow with one arrow.

After seeing Masaki attack from up close, Ichigo finally believed that his mother possessed extraordinary power as well. Why did this power look so much like Ishida Uryū's?

"Is that all?"

After firing that arrow, Masaki finally released Ichigo. She looked rather reluctant as the crossbow gradually dissolved into Reishi and disappeared. She had used her power again after so long, and now it was about to vanish once more.

"Mom, what is going on?!" Ichigo's face was full of shock. If he had known his mother was this powerful, what had been the point of risking his life to rush home?

"Oh my, Ichigo, you noticed?" Masaki tilted her head cutely on purpose.

"It would be hard not to notice!" Ichigo shouted. He had no idea when his parents had become so unreliable. They had clearly been so kind and dependable when he was little.

"All right, don't be so loud. It would be bad if you woke Yuzu and Karin." Masaki waved her hand, signaling for Ichigo to lower his voice.

"Exactly. Ichigo, you're way too worked up." Isshin slipped over to Ichigo's side and fanned the flames.

"Wait, it's still so early. Why are Yuzu and Karin asleep? And why aren't you surprised by mom's power at all, Dad?!" Ichigo could not help rattling off complaint after complaint.

"Just a few little tricks. Don't worry about it," Isshin said.

"You bastard, Dad, don't tell me you knocked Yuzu and Karin out!" Ichigo suddenly realized something and grabbed Isshin's shoulders, shaking him hard.

"Calm~ down~" Isshin drew out the words.

"Wait, Dad, are you hiding something else from me?" When Ichigo actually used his brain, his thoughts were quite sharp. "I'm in spirit form. How could you possibly see me?!"

At that moment, Orihime flew down with Ichigo's body and Rukia, then respectfully greeted the Kurosaki couple.

"Ichigo, did you traffic a girl?" Isshin decisively changed the subject, pointing at Rukia in her white clothes and pretending to be shocked.

"Dad! She's a spirit! How can you see her? Explain yourself properly!" Ichigo dragged Kurosaki Isshin back with a dark expression.

Only then did Isshin realize that Rukia was in spirit form. In the urgency of the situation, he had simply overlooked it. Just as Isshin scratched his head, trying to think of another way to fool Ichigo, Masaki sighed and said, "Ichigo has grown up. It's time to tell him, Isshin."

"Whatever you say, darling."

The Kurosaki couple ushered everyone into the Kurosaki Residence. Yuzu and Karin lay sleeping on the living room sofa. After Masaki and Orihime carried the two younger sisters back to their room, Ichigo put his body back on as well.

Ichigo stared seriously at Isshin, and Isshin stared back at him. As an outsider, Rukia very tactfully shrank into a corner.

"Where should I start?" Isshin looked troubled. There was so much to explain that he did not know where to begin.

"Everything. Tell me everything!" Ichigo said, bracing himself against the table.

"I'll leave it to you, darling." Isshin looked toward Masaki for help...

"What? Mom, you're a Quincy, and Dad fell for your beauty back then. He willingly gave up Soul Society's vast fortune to pursue you, and the two of you eventually fell in love. Then, because of the forbidden romance between a Bleach and a Quincy, you both lost your powers, and only temporarily regained them to face this danger with the help of that shady shopkeeper and Tsuna?"

"That sounds absurd no matter how you hear it!" Ichigo was nearly losing his mind. What kind of shameless love story was this? Meanwhile, Orihime had already become completely immersed in the Kurosaki couple's romance. Ichigo threw her a pack of tissues. "Orihime, stop crying. Dad and mom are obviously just fooling us!"

"Hey, Rukia, you're a Bleach, right? Would a Bleach and a Quincy really lose their powers if they got together?" Ichigo turned toward Rukia, who was silently shedding tears.

Rukia stiffened. After thinking for a while, she said, "According to the history I studied at the academy, there really was once a war between the Bleach and the Quincy."

"It really is a forbidden romance." With theoretical confirmation, Orihime's tears flowed even harder.

Now even Ichigo did not know how to argue back. Isshin and Masaki secretly breathed sighs of relief. They had finally fooled him. Half-truths were the hardest lies to expose.

"Ichigo, you really went overboard. You even damaged your own home." Ichigo turned around to see Tsuna crawling in through the hole Masaki had blasted through.

"Tsuna, you bastard, did you know all along that my parents were a Bleach and a Quincy?!" Ichigo grabbed Tsuna and demanded.

"Uncle and Aunt Masaki told you? Was it hard to accept?" Tsuna casually found a carton of milk in the Kurosaki Residence and drank from it. All that directing earlier had made him thirsty.

"Not really. I'm just a little surprised," Ichigo muttered. Life still had to go on. He was just annoyed that Tsuna, his friend, had kept his parents' secret from him.

"Then that settles it. Life still goes on as usual." Tsuna sat beside Masaki and said, "Aunt Masaki, did you use your reserve power?"

"It's all Ichigo's fault. If he had come back sooner, I wouldn't have had to waste my power." Masaki smiled as she said it, not looking the least bit regretful like she had when she lost her power before.

"I'm sorry." Ichigo hurriedly apologized.

"Ichigo, you're too straightforward. Can't you see Aunt Masaki is actually pretty happy?" Even Tsuna was speechless. Ichigo's brain worked sometimes and failed him at others.

"That's right, Ichigo. Mom also misses the days when she protected the world."

"I'm sorry, Mom. It's all my fault..." Isshin hugged Masaki and began to cry dramatically.

"It's all right. It was for the children..." Masaki played along with Isshin, making Ichigo feel a little guilty. He opened his mouth several times, not knowing what to say.

Looking at the Kurosaki couple before him, Tsuna felt fortunate that his own parents were not like this. Considering Ichigo had been acted around by these two for over a decade without being ruined by it, he was lucky.

"All right, stop fooling around. Aunt Masaki, I'll renew your power once."

Tsuna removed a pendant from his earring and handed it to Masaki. Masaki skillfully dripped a drop of blood onto the pendant, then placed it close to her body.

"Tsuna, what is this?" Ichigo asked.

"You know Aunt Masaki lost her Quincy powers, right?"

"I know." What Ichigo knew differed somewhat from what Tsuna knew, but overall, it was not wrong.

"This is a way to temporarily give Aunt Masaki power." Tsuna explained the basic principle. "The shopkeeper first analyzed the Reishi composition within Uncle and Auntie's bodies. Based on that, I used Illusion to simulate the combat abilities the two of them had in the past. This pendant is a medium for storing my Illusion."

"In an emergency, all they need to do is gently crush the pendant to use the Illusion stored inside. Through the Illusion, they can regain the powers they once had."

The essence of Masaki regaining her power was the effect of Tsuna's Mist-attribute Bankai. The pendant that had vanished from Tsuna's Mist earring had been given to Masaki and the others.

After Masaki used her power, Tsuna's earring would form another pendant. For Masaki's safety, Tsuna had specifically come this time to replenish her Illusion pendant.

The power gained through this method could not be cultivated. It could only simulate their former powers as closely as possible, but that was already enough for Masaki and the others.

"Wait, the two of them? So that means you too, Dad?"

"Of course Uncle has one of my pendants too. Otherwise, how could he see the Bleach standing beside us?" Tsuna said as if it were only natural. Isshin smiled and showed Ichigo his pendant as well.

Tsuna had already sheathed his Zanpakuto. He walked up to Rukia and said, "You're Rukia Kuchiki, right? Can you tell me why you aren't using Shikai? You haven't had your strength restricted, have you?"