History Fanfic / SwingingPendulum

** Shunsui and Kaien end up talking about Ichigo's possible age (which he's kept hidden), with Kaien commenting that with [[TheAce how he]] [[HurtingHero acts]] he had to be at least two-hundred and fifty, or two-hundred, and eventually says "He can't possibly be any younger that one hundred!" The audience knows that Ichigo is actually somewhere around twenty, which would be particularly disturbing to them as typically children in Soul Society are under forty years old. Which would make Kaien's habit of calling Ichigo his "baby cousin" [[RightForTheWrongReasons more accurate than he thinks]].

** In a discussion about Ichigo's age, which he has not disclosed, Kaien assumes that Ichigo has to be two-hundred and fifty by the [[HurtingHero way]] [[BrokenAce he]] [[ShellShockedVeteran acts]]; at the least, one-hundred years old. Ichigo is actually twenty years old.

** Central 46 and its need to control Soul Society. [[Spoiler:The cliffhanger of the last chapter implies they are actually manipulating Aizen the whole time.]]

* BigBad: Aizen still needs to be stopped.

* BlackSheep: Amongst the cheerful and dark-haired Shiba, the pessimistic and bright-haired Ichigo tends to stick out. He also sucks at Kidou, which happens to be a clan speciality.

* TookALevelInBadass: Asuka goes from a nobody placing in the bottom to single-handlily winning the student tournament with the backing of three captains and a lieutenant.

* TraumaButton: Ichigo avoids visiting the Shiba compound as much as possible so he won't end up seeing his young father. During a family dinner, Ichigo gets triggered into an emotional breakdown when he sees his father joke about needing an extremely patient woman if he ever gets married. When Kaien steals all of Ichigo's stuff to ensure he comes to the clan compound for Christmas, instead of seeing it as a prank, Ichigo takes it very personally and goes straight to TranquilFury. Kaien is later reprimmended from taking stuff from a man who has previously lost everything.

** A more comedic variant is that Kaien constantly worries for his "baby cousin" Ichigo's safety, not knowing that Ichigo could kick the asses of most of the captains.
* DrillSergeantNasty: Ichigo purposely invokes this with his training of Asuka. He trains her into the ground and insults her to get her to improve or to get her to quit. Although, he does take care of her when he overworks her and does pay her geniune compliments along with his insults.

Most likely a Dead Fic.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: It really hits Kaien how drained Ichigo is after a very trying mission when the normally graceful Ichigo stumbles and almost falls over just from walking out of a room.

* TookALevelInBadass: Asuka goes from a nobody placing in the bottom to single-handley winning the student tournament with the backing of three captains.

* TraumaButton: Ichigo avoids visiting the Shiba compound as much as possible so he won't end up seeing his young father. During a family dinner, Ichigo gets triggered into an emotional breakdown when he sees his father joke about needing an extremely patient woman if he ever gets married.

* BigBad: Aizen still needs to be stopped...
* BiggerBad: But Central 46 is a major cause for the story's problems.

-->[[spoiler: Central 46:]] One last thing then – do what you must to make him rely on you, [[TreacherousAdvisor make him look to you for guidance so that it will be that much easier to compel him to our side one day]]. However, should Shiba Ichigo prove to be too wild for you to break... kill him. [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident An accident out in Rukongai would do nicely]]. We do not need any of our plans reaching the Captain-Commander's ears, or even Aizen's, nor do we need either group gaining yet another prodigy. If the boy cannot be controlled, then it would be best to take him out of the picture entirely. You seem unnecessarily [[BecomingTheMask fond of that child, certainly more so than your job strictly dictates]], but you would do well to remember your place. Make sure it does not affect your judgement and duty; do I make myself clear... [[spoiler: Koyonagi]]?

->“Too dangerous to live,” Central 46 declares. Locked up in Muken with half-healed wounds and helpless rage, Ichigo gets another chance to save his fellow Visored when the Spirit King whisks him away and offers him a deal.

--> ''Morning, cousin! Join me for lunch today, okay? I’ll swing by at noon to pick you up. Your favourite big bro, Kaien^_^’''

-->"Perfection means you've stopped growing, means you can’t go any further. Imperfection means you can keep on growing, keep on moving forward for as long as you want to."

-->[[spoiler: Central 46:]] One last thing then – do what you must to make him rely on you, [[TreacherousAdvisor make him look to you for guidance so that it will be that much easier to compel him to our side one day]]. However, should Shiba Ichigo prove to be too wild for you to break... kill him. [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident An accident out in Rukongai would do nicely]]. We do not need any of our plans reaching the Captain-Commander’s ears, or even Aizen’s, nor do we need either group gaining yet another prodigy. If the boy cannot be controlled, then it would be best to take him out of the picture entirely. You seem unnecessarily [[BecomingTheMask fond of that child, certainly more so than your job strictly dictates]], but you would do well to remember your place. Make sure it does not affect your judgement and duty; do I make myself clear... [[spoiler: Koyonagi]]?

* HalfTruth:
** Due to his honest nature, Ichigo was taught how to lie through omission and half-truth. He uses this when he's asked questions about his past.
** When Ichigo is asked by Kaien why he broke down after seeing Isshin, Ichigo excuses himself by explaining that Isshin strongly resembles his father, whom he's still mourning.

* OhCrap: Ichigo is '''horrified''' when Koyonagi figures out that someone taught him how [[HalfTruth to lie]] and his cover story doesn't match up with his abilities. He is terrified for both their sakes when Koyonagi vows to find out the truth.

* UnfamiliarCeiling: Ichigo wakes up safe in a well-lit Shin'ou Academy dorm room, after the Spirit King rescues him from prison and gives him his quest.