DnB entry~~~
Title: Heroes Always Come Back
For: death_n_berry
Challenge: Challenge #5 - "Heroes Can Save You"
Characters: Kon, Kurosaki Yuzu, mentions of Karin, Rukia, and Ichigo.
Spoilers: Spoilers up to chapter 217.
Notes: Because there are not enough fics about Kon, and especially not Kon when he's being serious. And I think people tend to see him merely as comic relief now, instead of the soul that couldn't even harm an ant because all life was precious to him.
Summary: Kon thinks about being a big brother and a hero.
Kon didn't know what it was like to be a brother. He understood the need to protect and preserve life, yes, but he could never truly understand what being a brother was all about. He always protested when Ichigo would run off with Rukia, leaving only the instructions "Watch over my sisters, Kon!" and nothing else. No "Read girly magazines in my body, Kon!" or "Help me fight Hollows, Kon!" It was always about his family.
At first, Kon was merely annoyed at becoming a babysitter all the time, especially when one of his "charges" was constantly stuffing him in frilly dresses and lacey bonnets and gluing plastic flowers to his ear when he wasn't occupying Ichigo's body. Still, Ichigo had saved him from being destroyed, so he owed him a debt of service. He kept watch over Yuzu and Karin, screwing his face up into grumpy scowls whenever anyone looked at him, so as not to raise suspicion.
Things began to change when Ichigo left for Soul Society and Kon was left to inhabit his body for the duration of summer vacation. Yuzu was inexplicably plagued with nightmares and began frequenting his (Ichigo's) bedroom nightly, standing there in her fluffy yellow pajamas and whimpering about how he was always going away in her dreams and how frightened she was that he might never return one day. On the fifth successive night when she was back in his room, Kon was just about to tell her to go back to bed, when Yuzu (with those huge brown eyes glimmering with tears), looking absolutely miserable, whispered "Oniichan isn't going to go away forever, is he? He'll come back home, right?"
Kon hesitated, looking at the little girl standing before the bed, sniffling quietly and scrubbing at her eyes with her fist. He knew she didn't mean her question to be taken literally, but he could have construed it that way. Ichigo was in Soul Society, fighting against those who had condemned him and his own siblings to die without even allowing them a choice. For all he knew, the substitute shinigami might not return home. He could die. But he had gone to save Rukia, laying his life on the line for the girl, and putting all of his strength and courage into it. He had confidence. He wouldn't have gone if every fiber of his being wasn't absolutely convinced that he would save Rukia, keep his friends safe, and return to his family... if he didn't have that same confidence that Kon could protect the ones he cared for in his absence.
"Your Oniichan's a hero," he informed Yuzu, pushing aside the covers and getting out of bed to scoop her up into his arms and carry her back to her own room. "And heroes always come back, 'cause you know their family's the most important thing."
Ichigo's sister was too sleepy to question the unusual gentleness in her brother's tone, and she actually drifted off while still in Kon's arms. The mod soul was reluctant to place her back in bed, for fear that the movement would awaken her, so he simply sat on the side of her bed and cradled her until morning, while Karin slumbered peacefully in the next bed over.
Ichigo was a hero. Kon was not. He hadn't been able to protect his siblings from the destruction brought about by their creators. He had been the only one to survive. He was the furthest thing from a hero.
Or was this a second chance? By placing his sisters' safety in his hands, was Ichigo granting him a chance to be a hero? To fight for the lives of siblings who were starting to feel like his own more and more as each day passed? To be a big brother?
Kon was thoughtfully silent for the remainder of the night.
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Ichigo returned. Yuzu and Karin seemed happier, more like their annoying little girl selves, and Kon was once again thrust into his stuffed body and subjected to all sorts of Yuzu-brand costuming torture.
And then the idiot disappeared again, with not even Rukia knowing where he had gone to this time. And he had taken his body with him.
Kon knew his family was concerned, Yuzu most of all. He was the only one who heard her cry at night, the only one who felt her warm tears saturate his plush body as she clutched him closer, murmuring her brother's name in her sleep. She could no longer awaken from her nightmares and seek out her brother for comfort, because he wasn't there.
Was that what a hero did? Was that what a big brother did? What changes had Ichigo gone through that he'd willingly leave his family like this?
Heroes always come back...
You better not prove me wrong... Ichigo.
For: death_n_berry
Challenge: Challenge #5 - "Heroes Can Save You"
Characters: Kon, Kurosaki Yuzu, mentions of Karin, Rukia, and Ichigo.
Spoilers: Spoilers up to chapter 217.
Notes: Because there are not enough fics about Kon, and especially not Kon when he's being serious. And I think people tend to see him merely as comic relief now, instead of the soul that couldn't even harm an ant because all life was precious to him.
Summary: Kon thinks about being a big brother and a hero.
Kon didn't know what it was like to be a brother. He understood the need to protect and preserve life, yes, but he could never truly understand what being a brother was all about. He always protested when Ichigo would run off with Rukia, leaving only the instructions "Watch over my sisters, Kon!" and nothing else. No "Read girly magazines in my body, Kon!" or "Help me fight Hollows, Kon!" It was always about his family.
At first, Kon was merely annoyed at becoming a babysitter all the time, especially when one of his "charges" was constantly stuffing him in frilly dresses and lacey bonnets and gluing plastic flowers to his ear when he wasn't occupying Ichigo's body. Still, Ichigo had saved him from being destroyed, so he owed him a debt of service. He kept watch over Yuzu and Karin, screwing his face up into grumpy scowls whenever anyone looked at him, so as not to raise suspicion.
Things began to change when Ichigo left for Soul Society and Kon was left to inhabit his body for the duration of summer vacation. Yuzu was inexplicably plagued with nightmares and began frequenting his (Ichigo's) bedroom nightly, standing there in her fluffy yellow pajamas and whimpering about how he was always going away in her dreams and how frightened she was that he might never return one day. On the fifth successive night when she was back in his room, Kon was just about to tell her to go back to bed, when Yuzu (with those huge brown eyes glimmering with tears), looking absolutely miserable, whispered "Oniichan isn't going to go away forever, is he? He'll come back home, right?"
Kon hesitated, looking at the little girl standing before the bed, sniffling quietly and scrubbing at her eyes with her fist. He knew she didn't mean her question to be taken literally, but he could have construed it that way. Ichigo was in Soul Society, fighting against those who had condemned him and his own siblings to die without even allowing them a choice. For all he knew, the substitute shinigami might not return home. He could die. But he had gone to save Rukia, laying his life on the line for the girl, and putting all of his strength and courage into it. He had confidence. He wouldn't have gone if every fiber of his being wasn't absolutely convinced that he would save Rukia, keep his friends safe, and return to his family... if he didn't have that same confidence that Kon could protect the ones he cared for in his absence.
"Your Oniichan's a hero," he informed Yuzu, pushing aside the covers and getting out of bed to scoop her up into his arms and carry her back to her own room. "And heroes always come back, 'cause you know their family's the most important thing."
Ichigo's sister was too sleepy to question the unusual gentleness in her brother's tone, and she actually drifted off while still in Kon's arms. The mod soul was reluctant to place her back in bed, for fear that the movement would awaken her, so he simply sat on the side of her bed and cradled her until morning, while Karin slumbered peacefully in the next bed over.
Ichigo was a hero. Kon was not. He hadn't been able to protect his siblings from the destruction brought about by their creators. He had been the only one to survive. He was the furthest thing from a hero.
Or was this a second chance? By placing his sisters' safety in his hands, was Ichigo granting him a chance to be a hero? To fight for the lives of siblings who were starting to feel like his own more and more as each day passed? To be a big brother?
Kon was thoughtfully silent for the remainder of the night.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Ichigo returned. Yuzu and Karin seemed happier, more like their annoying little girl selves, and Kon was once again thrust into his stuffed body and subjected to all sorts of Yuzu-brand costuming torture.
And then the idiot disappeared again, with not even Rukia knowing where he had gone to this time. And he had taken his body with him.
Kon knew his family was concerned, Yuzu most of all. He was the only one who heard her cry at night, the only one who felt her warm tears saturate his plush body as she clutched him closer, murmuring her brother's name in her sleep. She could no longer awaken from her nightmares and seek out her brother for comfort, because he wasn't there.
Was that what a hero did? Was that what a big brother did? What changes had Ichigo gone through that he'd willingly leave his family like this?
Heroes always come back...
You better not prove me wrong... Ichigo.