Chapter Text
After the end of the Winter War, Ichigo finds himself struggling to adapt back to normal life. He wouldn’t ever regret sacrificing his powers to defeat Aizen, would do it again in a heartbeat. But the weight of the consequences for his decision don’t truly hit him until he finds himself walking to school without the usual background chatter of ghosts to keep him company.
To suddenly be without something that had been with him his entire life hits Ichigo far harder than he expects it to.
On top of that all of his friends have started awkwardly avoiding him and won’t even bring up anything Shinigami related if they can help it. Conversations tapering off into silence whenever he gets close and even their rooftop hangouts don’t feel welcoming anymore. He hasn’t seen any of his Shinigami friends in weeks and Karin has started sneaking out behind his back and going to Urahara’s. Ichigo comforts himself with the knowledge that Hat n’ Clogs will keep her safe.
Ichigo goes through the motions during school and every day that drags by with the distance between him and his friends getting wider feels like a stab wound directly to his heart. He’s sitting in his guidance counselor’s office where she expresses concern for his dropped grades and fucked up attendance. He had been a top student before everything to do with Shinigami had barged its way into his life but with the war going on his grades had fallen significantly.
“Kurosaki-san are you listening?” Yokino-sensei asks in exasperation.
“Yes, sensei.” Ichigo blinks his eyes away from the window where he can see his Chad and Orihime rushing off. Yokino-sensei sighs before pulling out a pamphlet from one of the dozen stacks of paper precariously balancing on her desk and handing it to him.
“This is a student exchange program that you meet the requirements for. I think it would be a good opportunity for you to experience another culture.”
Translation: Get the fuck out of this little town and away from whatever has you so depressed.
“I’ll think about it.” Ichigo takes the pamphlet without looking at it and leaves before she can add anything else.
He intends to just shove the thing into his desk to be forgotten about but then he actually takes a look at it. Its an exchange program with Italy of all places, he was kind of expecting America. The program schedule is incredibly flexible and is meant to get students deeply involved in Italy’s cultural customs. If he went he would be living with a host family. It really did look like a lot of fun.
Ichigo had always wanted to go traveling when he was older, when the girls were more mature and could look after themselves. But the twins were still only twelve and this program was set to last two years. Could Ichigo actually bear to leave them for that long?
Turns out it didn’t matter if Ichigo could because as soon as Yuzu finds the pamphlet she sits him down for an interrogation. He expects tears or yelling or just generally unhappy feelings about the possibility of him leaving. Ichigo fidgets with his tea as he sits in silence letting her take in what all accepting would entail. He prepares himself to say he isn’t going and that she doesn’t need to cry before Yuzu looks up at him and the words catch in his throat.
“You should go to Italy.” She tells him with glassy but determined eyes.
“What?” Ichigo honestly wasn’t expecting that.
“Go to Italy.” Yuzu repeats firmly.
“But-” She cuts him off.
“Ichi-nii, you’ve been looking after us for years now. And while I don’t know everything that's going on since no one will tell me.” Ichigo winces guiltily suddenly feeling like a hypocrite for being upset with his own friends for keeping secrets. “I do know that your hurting right now and that everyone is being really weird and reticent. So maybe going somewhere new will be good for you. It’ll be a fresh start for you to get better.”
Ichigo doesn’t really know what to say to that. Yuzu gets up from her seat and moves around the table to hug him tightly.
“I just want you to be able to smile again.”
His decision to leave pretty much solidifies then and there.
Yuzu handles telling Karin while Ichigo works up the nerve to talk to Goat Face to sign the consent forms. The old man surprisingly doesn’t fight him on it instead enthusiastically telling him to go and signing off on all the necessary paperwork.
All thats left to do really is pack his things and talk to Urahara.
The damn shopkeeper hadn’t out right been avoiding him like everyone else but he was definitely distracted with something. Everytime Ichigo dropped by he was either sent away or left to his own devices to wander around the shop alone.
While Ichigo appreciated being trusted enough to wander Urahara’s home without being supervised, going so long without seeing the stupid shopkeeper bothered him a lot more than he really wanted to admit.
Walking into the shop Ichigo made his way to Urahara’s lab knocking on the door three times hard to make sure he hears. Dumbass got absorbed to easily into his experiments and forgot everything else. Thankfully it doesn’t take long for him to answer this time.
“Ah, Kurosaki-kun?” Urahara’s hair looks wild and unkempt. His hat no where to be found and while Benihime rests in his hand, Ichigo sees no sign of his customary fan.
“We need to talk.” That felt more foreboding then it really had any right to be.
Urahara gives him an unreadable look before stepping out of his lab, locking it back as he does and gesturing for Ichigo to follow him. The two settle into the sitting room as Urahara busies himself with making a pot of tea.
“What did you wish to talk about?”
“I’m leaving.” Ichigo just gets it out there no sense in dragging it out. He isn’t expecting the way Urahara just freezes in place like a statue.
“Leaving?” Ichigo finds himself pinned in place by a sharp stare.
“I accepted a student exchange program. I’m going to Italy.”
Urahara just stares unblinkingly for so long that Ichigo starts feeling as if he’s somehow done something wrong, said the wrong thing.
“I see. You probably wish to get away from all of this, huh?” Urahara gives him such a fake ass smile that Ichigo feels the need to gag. “I understand. Well do have a wonderful trip Kurasaki-san! I-”
“Stop.” Ichigo cuts him off before Urahara can work himself up any further. “I’m going because it feels like no one really needs me here anymore. My guidance counselor though it would be good for me and Yuzu thinks so too. So I’m going, I wanted to tell you so that you wouldn’t be caught off guard if you came looking for me.”
He suddenly feels ridiculous. Ichigo doesn’t have his powers anymore, he can’t help with anything going on, there isn’t any reason for Urahara to come looking for him. But the shopkeeper had grown on him and Ichigo knows he’d hate it if Urahara suddenly packed up and left without a word to him.
Urahara just stares at him with that frustratingly blank look for another long minute.
“How long are you going to be gone?” He finally asks.
“Two years.” Ichigo would be eighteen when he comes back.
“I see. Its good that your taking an interest in broadening your horizons. Who am I to discourage the pursuit of knowledge?”
Ichigo rolls his eyes so hard it hurts his head before reaching out a hand. Urahara stills even harder when he places it on top of his hatless head.
“Look after the girls while I’m gone, will you?” Look after my family while I can’t, Ichigo doesn’t say. He thinks Urahara hears him anyway.
“Mah, Kurosaki-chan I’ll take good care of your sisters.” No harm will come to them while I’m here, his eyes promise.
Ichigo spends the rest of the evening just sitting with Urahara and drinking tea. Its good and he finds himself feeling lighter than he has in a while.
The day he boards his flight Ichigo does one last check to make sure he has everything packed and finds a credit card with his name on it and a phone with a number already listed inside.
The first six months in Italy are the most peaceful experience Ichigo has ever had. Like all things in Ichigo’s life he manages to pick up Italian incredibly quickly despite how he only started learning when he arrived. It was really a necessity since his host family doesn't speak Japanese and broken English could only get him so far.
The people were interesting as well as the various programs the teachers had scheduled for the students to do. Everyone was for the most part welcoming and patient with the foreign exchange students. Bar the occasional asshole that was just a raging racist. Ichigo honestly hadn’t expected to enjoy the experience as much as he was.
There were no Shinigami, no friends awkwardly avoiding him, and while he’d never admit it openly (and barely to himself) no sisters that he had to keep an eye on. He loved the twins with his whole being but for the first time since their mother died Ichigo had the opportunity to just do things purely for himself.
It was strange but not a bad strange. Going out and just exploring however he liked, not worrying about the weeks grocery list, or having another crisis dropped at his feet with a new enemy to fight was a nice change of pace. Not that he would ever trade any of that for any amount of peace but having the opportunity to actually figure himself out without adding other people to the mix was in a way refreshing.
And also incredibly lonely. Ichigo kept finding himself turing as if to share whatever food he was trying with Orihime, his eyes catching on different styles of clothes that he thought Uryu would find interesting, or missing the steady presence of Chad at his back whenever his hair inevitably caught the attention of some less than savory people.
He missed sitting in Urahara's shop drinking tea and training with Yoruichi, he missed Rukia’s terrible drawings, Renji’s bullheaded personality, and having to deal with whatever bullshit the Shinigami had found themselves in that week. Ichigo missed how things used to be with his friends.
That loneliness was probably what prompted him to actually attend the shady meeting he’d been invited to.
Ichigo Kurosaki you are formally
invited to the gathering of the Seven Strongest.
The only other thing written on the plain white card was an address and a date. It was by far the most shady thing Ichigo had ever scene and had him calling up Urahara before he could think better of it.
‘All it says is the Seven Strongest?” Kisuke’s voice filters through the phone as Ichigo sets about making himself a late dinner. His host family was already asleep and Ichigo knows himself well enough to know he won't be able to go to sleep knowing someone was in his room.
Not that breaking in was a hard thing to do (his host family didn't really have much in the way of home security) but it was the principle of the matter.
“Yeah, along with an address and date.”
“Looks like six months is the longest you can go without finding trouble. I’ll look into it and see what I can find Ichigo-kun.” That was another new change that Ichigo found himself happy about. After one to many sleepless nights Ichigo had started sending pictures and random texts to Urahara.
The man didn’t always respond at first but after about a month of Ichigo stubbornly refusing to stop, Kiskue had started sending him random pictures and texts as well. Ichigo couldn’t help the warm smile that tugged at his lips hearing his name coming from the other.
“I assume you’ll be attending the meeting?”
“Probably.” Ichigo would admit to being incredibly bored. The easy peace was relaxing and nice but after a year of none stop action he found himself bored out of his mind with nothing but school work to do.
Kisuke just hummed distractedly, he was probably running another experiment. Ichigo didn’t interrupt his thinking just continued cooking in silence.
‘Ah, its late over there for you isn’t it? Get some rest, you shouldn’t head into any new trouble on no sleep Ichigo-san.”
“Hm, night Kisuke.” Ichigo heard Kisuke choke and abruptly realized it was the first time he’d called him by his first name instead of Hat n’ Clogs. He hung up before the other could interrogate him or more likely get caught up in some weird guilty feelings. Kiskue had the biggest guilt complex Ichigo had ever scene and he was not dealing with it so late at night.