The Shadows in our Souls
A/N: Yo people! It is I, Merytato. Now then, a word about this story before I begin. I have posted this story previously, however I took it down due to personal reasons at the time. I am now feeling ready to start once again. As a warning, this is going to be a crazy ride. More on that in the ending author's note. For now, kick back, relax, and enjoy!
The Shadows in our Souls Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End
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"OOOOWWWWWWWWW!" Could be heard across the landscape as an orange-haired teen fell onto the ground, hard, from mid air.
Groaning in pain, Ichigo opened his eyes to see a bright blue sky dotted with fluffy, white clouds. Feeling around with his hands, he noted that he seemed to be lying down on soft, springy grass.
The orange haired teen sat up, holding his head. He looked around to see a seemingly endless expanse of bright green grass, broken here and there with tall oak trees.
"How the hell did I end up here," Ichigo wondered. Deciding that sitting around wasn't going to accomplish anything, Ichigo stood up, dusted himself off, and started walking in a random direction.
He had been walking across the mostly flat landscape for what he thought was about an hour when he noticed something silhouetted on the horizon. Squinting, Ichigo could make out a human-shaped figure. The silhouette was short. Abnormally short, in fact. Its figure seemed to be feminine. Now that he thought about it, the hairstyle seemed very familiar...
"No," Ichigo whispered. "It can't be..." Slowly, as if they were moving of their own accord, his legs started carrying him towards the figure, who was standing still in the same spot.
As he could see the figure in more and more detail, his pace picked up as well, until he was full out sprinting towards the silhouette. Eventually, he reached the figure, and his suspicions were confirmed.
"Rukia..." Ichigo said softly. Even though she was right in front of him, he couldn't completely believe it.
Rukia smiled at him. She opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly her expression turned to one of shock. Ichigo's eyes widened as a gray blade appeared through Rukia's chest. He reached out for her, but a large amount of blood gurgled from her mouth and she slid off of the sword, dead.
Ichigo had trouble keeping his lunch in after that, but forced himself to look up to see Rukia's killer. As he did, the sky was quickly covered with dark gray storm clouds, while thunder rumbled and lightning flashed. A steady downpour began as he looked at the murderer, dumbstruck, his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide.
A shadowy figure was standing right behind where Rukia was just standing, holding a sword. It looked like a shinigami, but instead of white trimmed black robes, this one had gray robes. It had bony white hands and feet, but that wasn't the worst part...
It had no face or hair. Instead, its entire head was a pure white oval. It looked like something out of a horror movie.
As he looked at the killer, he felt a terrible, enormous, bubbling rage fill him up. He wanted nothing more than to tear this monstrosity to shreds. With a yell, Ichigo charged at it, but tripped over something. He looked at what he had tripped over, and his eyes widened in shock. He was staring at the mangled body of Orihime Inoue.
"No... " Ichigo whispered. He looked back at the shadowy figure, only to see that it had disappeared. In its place were the bodies of everyone he knew. Chad, Uryuu, Tatsuki, Keigo, Renji, the Captains. All of them were dead, with their bodies mangled and disfigured in one way or another.
Ichigo slumped to his knees in total defeat. As he did, a deep rumble sounded out. He looked up to see a face take shape in the dark clouds.
"This is what will happen if you defy me." The face said in a deep, rumbling voice, "I do not condone those who interrupt my plans."
Suddenly, the mouth opened, and a black ball of energy gathered inside of it. The energy shot out of the mouth in the form of a beam, and headed straight for Ichigo...
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Ichigo jerked up in his bed, breathing heavily and covered in a cold sweat.
"D-Damn." Ichigo gasped, trying to slow down his breathing, "That was one hell of a nightmare."
Calming down, he looked at his alarm clock. It read 5:38.
Groaning at the loss of another hour and change of sleep, Ichigo got out of bed and started doing his morning exercises, which consisted of a large number of push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and other various exercises.
As he let his slightly aching body rest, Ichigo looked at his clock. It now read 6:04.
Sighing, Ichigo took out his headphones and plugged it into his TV. He turned it on and started up his new Xbox. It had been a gift from his friends and family to help him get over what had happened with the Arrancar War and the subsequent loss of his powers. While it didn't really help in the way they had intended, it did give him something to do when he was bored and had nothing better to do.
He played his games until his alarm went off at 7:00, at which time he powered down his system and TV, and put his headphones in his school bag. He took his school uniform out from his bedroom closet and started to get dressed. As he did, he could hear the sounds of his sister Yuzu making breakfast for everyone. He also heard the sound of feet shuffling and tripping down the stairs, which was most likely his sister Karin.
Flipping his collar back, Ichigo grabbed his bag, opened the door to his room, and walked into the hallway, shutting the door as he walked out. He half-dragged his feet across the upstairs hallway and down the stairs into the entrance to his home.
He walked into the kitchen, where a Yuzu with an apron was fixing pancakes and eggs at the stove, and Karin was sitting at the table, rubbing her eyes and yawning.
"Morning Yuzu, Karin." Ichigo said, nodding to them.
"Good morning, Ichigo!" Yuzu said, smiling brightly, while Karin waved a hand in response.
Hearing heavy footsteps running down the stairs, Ichigo sighed and prepared for what he knew was coming.
"GOOD MORNING, ICHIGOOOOO," His father, Ishin, yelled from behind him. Ichigo bent over just in time for his shirtless father to go sailing over his head and out the window. The sound of a cat screeching could be heard, followed by the cries of a grown man in pain.
Ichigo sat down at the table across from Karin, who, like her sister, ignored their father's cries of pain. It was an almost every day occurrence after all.
"You'd think he would've learned by now." Karin said, pointing back at the window with her thumb, through which the sounds of Ishin in pain could still be heard, along with a cat's hiss.
"He's Dad." Ichigo deadpanned, "I'm pretty sure the only thing he's ever learned without violence is his ABC's, and I'm starting to doubt that too."
"You know, he is our father." Yuzu chimed in, "You guys should show him some respect."
Ichigo and Karin looked at each other, and promptly burst out laughing. Yuzu sighed and turned back to her cooking. Being the acting mother figure was hard when you're technically the youngest of your siblings.
After a few more minutes, Yuzu served their food. She made a plate for herself and picked at it as she got started on their lunches.
"Thanks, Yuzu." Ichigo said, before taking a bite, "'S pretty good too."
"Make sure to leave some more for me." Karin took a bite of her eggs.
Soon enough, Ichigo had finished his breakfast and left his plate on the counter for Yuzu to wash.
Yuzu gave him his lunchbox. "Here you go, Ichigo," she said cheerfully. Ichigo gave his thanks and started walking out the door. "Have a nice day at school, and don't forget about Karin's soccer game later!"
Ichigo raised a hand in acknowledgement as he slung his bag over his shoulder. He walked down his driveway and past his father, who was lying in the lawn, covered in cat scratches and twitching every few seconds. Sighing at his father in disgust, Ichigo continued his trek to school.
Perhaps it was his nightmare that caused it, but as he walked, his thoughts started drifting back to his days as a Soul Reaper. It had been two months since he had used the Final Getsuga to defeat the traitor Aizen, and in the process lost his powers and everything he had worked up to until then.
Two months. It certainly didn't feel like it had been that long to the strawberry. After he had lost his powers and said goodbye to everyone he had known in the Soul Society, he had thrown himself into his school work. It had been constant day in, day out, everyday life.
Of course, seeing as it was a spiritual center, Karakura Town still needed protection. Chad, Orihime, Uryuu, and Isshin had taken it upon themselves to defend the town against the Hollows that sometimes popped up, as well as any other problems that needed their attention. Even though they didn't mean it in the way he took it, the thought of his friends defending his hometown from Hollows while he sat in his room playing Xbox made him feel weak and useless.
Perhaps that was why he had started his training regime. In addition to his morning exercises, which he did every day, Ichigo did a number of other exercises, which included running five miles or so every few days, scaling a tall rock wall he had found three times every couple of days, and many other exercises. He probably didn't have to push himself so hard, but it made him feel slightly better about his current condition. Even so, it didn't change the fact that he couldn't help his friends and family hunt Hollows and protect the very people he had lost his powers to protect in the first place.
Ichigo was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he walked straight into something, or rather, someone.
Ichigo felt himself walk into something very hard, almost like rock. He looked up to see none other than his friend Sado Yusatora, whom he called Chad.
"Yo, Ichigo." Chad greeted, looking amused, "What's up?"
Ichigo looked up at the friendly giant with surprise. "Chad?" Ichigo said, puzzled, "What are you doing all the way over here? I thought you lived over on the other side of town?"
Chad pointed behind him. "I helped an old lady find her cat," he said. Ichigo looked behind the dark skinned boy, and lo and behold there was a happy old woman hugging a not so happy cat. It was strangely similar to the one that had been mauling his father earlier.
Ichigo sweat dropped and looked at his friend. "You're too nice for your own good, you know that, Chad?"
The giant chuckled. "Maybe." The two started walking in the direction of their high school.
"So what's been going on with you lately?" Ichigo asked, "It's been awhile since the last time we've been able to talk like this."
Chad shrugged his massive shoulders. "Nothing much." He replied, "I joined the boxing team, but other than that, not much."
Ichigo looked at his friend in surprise. "You joined the boxing team," he asked. Chad nodded in confirmation. "That's great! What made you want to join anyway? I thought you didn't like stuff like that?"
"Well, I want to go to college." Chad explained, "And I've been applying to numerous colleges, but they keep turning me down. They say that while my grades are good, they need people who can contribute something to their facility other than brains. So I decided to join boxing because my build is suited for it."
They walked into their school courtyard just as the bell rang. "I bet you'll become the national champion in your first year, Chad," Ichigo said.
"Thanks, Ichigo," the dark skinned giant smiled. The two entered the building and bumped fists before going to their separate classes.
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Ichigo yawned yet again as he listened to his teacher drone on and on about parabolas and a bunch of other math-related stuff that he didn't understand at all. Even though he was applying himself more in school, math always somehow managed to bore him to sleep.
Propping his head on his arm, Ichigo looked out the window. It was bright and sunny, and he was suddenly reminded of his dream. He shook his head vigorously to clear the gruesome images from his mind. When he stopped, he found himself looking at the empty chair where Rukia used to sit. He quickly looked away, but the quick glimpse was enough to make him feel like crap.
He always tried to prevent himself from looking at anything related to Rukia or anyone else from the Soul Society, because it was inevitable that the memories would come back to him.
This time was no different. Even though he tried to fight it, the memory of his final moments with his friends from the Soul Society came floating back to him...
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Ichigo, Rukia, Renji, Orihime, Uryuu, Chad, the Vizards, and the Captains of the Gotei 13 were standing in front of a Senkaimon on the west side of Karakura Town. The atmosphere surrounding the group was heavy, not with tension, but with sadness.
"Ichigo Kurosaki," the Captain Commander Yamamoto said, breaking the silence, "You have done all of Soul Society a great favor, one which we of the Gotei 13 shall never forget. You have defeated the traitor Sosoke Aizen, who was a threat not only to the Soul Society, but to the world of the living and Hueco Mundo as well. I speak for all of us when I say that we are eternally grateful for all you have done."
"However," Yamamoto continued, "The sad fact remains that in order to defeat Aizen, you used a technique that, while powerful, robbed you of your Shinigami powers. As it is beyond even my power to restore them, it is with a heavy heart that I relinquish you of your duties as a Substitute Shinigami. I shall allow you to keep your badge, however, as a reminder of what you have done."
The ancient warrior paused, looking at the boy who had saved them all from destruction. The expression on the teen's face could only be described as lost. Clearing his throat, Yamamoto, along with the other Captains, bowed deeply.
"We cannot thank you enough for all you have done for us." The Captain Commander said, still bowing, "It is with great sadness that I bid you farewell. Thank you, Ichigo Kurosaki, Hero of the Three Worlds." With that, Yamamoto and the other Captains straightened, and one by one walked through the Senkaimon. Some paused to shake Ichigo's hand or to say their own goodbyes. The Vizards walked away, heading back to their hideout.
Renji walked over to Ichigo and clapped his hand on Ichigo's shoulder, shaking the orange-haired teen out of his stupor. "You did good, Ichigo." He said solemnly, "It was an honor fighting beside you. Try not to be eaten by a Hollow before I can get another chance at kicking your ass, got it?"
Ichigo managed to crack a small smile. "Same goes for you, Pineapple."
Renji took his hand off of Ichigo's shoulder. He turned around and walked through the Senkaimon, raising a hand in farewell as he passed through.
Chad, Uryuu, and Orihime looked at each other. A silent agreement passed between them, and they each turned and walked towards their respective homes, leaving Ichigo and Rukia alone.
Rukia was the first to speak up. "So I guess this is goodbye, eh, strawberry," she asked, making an attempt at a smile.
"Yeah, I guess it is, for now at least." Ichigo replied, his expression softening, "I don't know how I'll be able to find you in the Soul Society when I finally kick the bucket, midget. You're so short it's almost impossible to see you near normal sized peop-OOF! Rukia, what the hell?" Rukia had suddenly ran up to Ichigo and tackled him in a bear hug.
"Thank you, Ichigo. For everything," Rukia muttered into his rapidly soaking chest. Before Ichigo could question exactly what the hell was going on, the raven-haired shinigami had bolted through the Senkaimon, which closed almost immediately afterwards.
Ichigo just stared at the spot where the Senkaimon had been moments before. He stood there for a good amount of time past sunset, gripping his Substitute Shinigami badge in his pocket tightly. Finally, hours after the Senkaimon had closed, Ichigo turned around and went home. If one looked closely at the ground where the teen had been standing, one might be able to make out a single small wet spot on the pavement.
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Ichigo sighed deeply. Even now, two months later, the memories still pained him.
Ichigo was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear his name being called by his teacher. Narrowing her eyes, the math instructor walked over to the teen and slammed the ruler she was holding on his desk, jolting Ichigo out of his stupor and causing the rest of the class to burst into laughter.
"So glad you could join us." The teacher said amidst the class's laughter, "Now, if you're done daydreaming, please solve the problem on the board." She pointed to a mildly difficult algebraic equation written in chalk on the blackboard.
Mentally groaning, Ichigo stood up and dragged himself over to the blackboard, where he attempted to solve the math problem.
Oh, he could tell that this was going to be a fun day.
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Ichigo sighed in relief as the bell for the lunch break rang. As he had predicted, his morning had gone badly. He had been scolded by his teachers for daydreaming in every class. His English instructor had even gone so far as to compare him to Orihime, who, while very bright, was renowned for her constant daydreaming.
Ichigo stood up and stretched, grabbing his school bag as he did so. Slinging it over his shoulder, he walked out of the door of his classroom and down the hall towards his locker, where he exchanged his school bag for his bento. Holding the bento box to his side, he put his other hand in his pocket and walked among the other students who were heading towards the courtyard to eat.
As Ichigo walked into the courtyard in front of the school, he breathed in deeply, taking in the smell of the cherry blossoms and flowering plants that were interspersed around the area, and smiled slightly. He really needed some fresh air. With painful memories resurfacing, as well as his teachers' constant pestering, he really needed some time to get away and talk with friends.
Speaking of his friends, they were proving to be difficult to find as he looked around the somewhat packed yard. The courtyard was usually pretty full during lunch because most of the students preferred the open space and fresh air of the outdoors to the stuffy air and enclosure of the cafeteria. A good number of the students were eating lunch in a group, munching on onigiri or whatever else their families had made for them and chatting amiably. Some were eating their meal in solitude, content with their own company. A couple students were even sleeping in trees, most likely exhausted after a difficult exam, or possibly gym.
Ichigo just hoped they weren't caught by the vice principal. That man had issues, and if he caught someone sleeping in the trees that he had personally ordered to be planted, Ichigo was pretty sure the man would have an apoplectic fit.
Finally spying his friends eating in the shade of the outer wall that surrounded the school property, Ichigo walked over to them, slowly raising his left arm in what seemed to be a greeting as he went.
Once Ichigo got within ten feet of his friends, he closed his eyes and started counting down.
'3, 2, 1...'
"ICHIGOOOO!" He heard the expected loud and overly-excited voice yell from behind him right on cue. Ichigo swung his left fist backwards just in time for it to meet Keigo's face. His perverted friend froze for half a second, before crumpling onto the ground. He laid there, twitching every few seconds, while Ichigo sat down between Uryuu and Chad, one of his eyebrows twitching in annoyance.
"Hey, guys," Ichigo said, sitting with his legs crossed.
"Hello, Ichigo." Uryuu said, shifting his glasses up his nose, "Good to see you. We were just discussing our plans for life after high school. I was just saying that I myself have applied to several colleges, but so far I haven't received a reply."
"I've already told everyone that I joined the boxing team." Chad informed Ichigo, "They didn't seem too surprised. But when I said I was planning to play college level, someone," he glanced meaningfully at Tatsuki, "voiced their doubts."
"You know I'm sitting within striking distance of you, right," Tatsuki growled.
"Speaking of boxing," Uryuu said hastily, "I heard that you were on the boxing team yourself, Tatsuki."
Everyone turned to the black haired girl, who was now blushing slightly.
"I didn't know that girls were allowed to join the team," Chad stated curiously.
"Yeah, isn't there some kind of rule against that?" Ichigo questioned, "Something about too many guys taking advantage of the close combat?"
Tatsuki rubbed the back of her head, grinning. "Yeah, that's normally the case." She agreed, "But a couple days ago, a couple of thugs tried to have their way with me, if you know what I mean. I took the liberty of beating them senseless. As it turned out, those two idiots were a couple of the best boxers on the team. Once the coach heard about that, he kicked those two out and approached me. I thought I was a goner, so you can probably imagine how surprised I was when he offered me their place on the team."
She turned to Chad, her grin turning into a smirk. "But I'm in the lightweight league, so you don't need to worry about losing your reputation as the strongest person here just yet, big guy," she said. The giant slumped his shoulders in resignation.
"I'm impressed." Uryuu said, "You managed to defeat two skilled boxers on your own, without any serious injuries. I think you'll do well on the team. But how will this affect your martial arts training?"
"I've already worked it out with my sensei and the coach." Tatsuki explained, "Their practices are normally on different days, but since I already know more about boxing than most of the people on the team do, the coach said I could afford to skip a practice here and there as long as I don't miss a match."
"But anyway, enough about me." The martial artist turned to Orihime, who had been strangely quiet throughout the entire conversation, with a grin on her face, "Miss Top Female Student here has some big news. Right, Orihime?" The black-haired girl elbowed her friend in the ribs, making Orihime jump.
"R-Right," the busty teen exclaimed nervously, her eyes lighting up. She took a deep breath and smiled. "I got accepted into a major university!"
Everyone was stunned. Getting accepted into a major university was a big deal, especially for someone like Orihime, who had no family. She really needed, and deserved, something like this to happen so she could make something out of her life.
Ichigo was the first to recover. "That's great, Orihime!" He grinned. "You deserve to go to a good college." Ichigo felt genuinely happy for the first time in weeks. He knew Orihime was smart, and was glad that someone had recognized her for it.
Everyone offered their congratulations to the orange-haired girl, whose face could only be described as glowing.
"Thank you so much everyone!" The healer wiped her eyes, "I'm going to miss you guys when I leave."
Tatsuki lightly punched her friend on the shoulder. "Hey, don't be getting all sappy on us now." She said, "We still have a couple of years until college, and even then we'll still be able to visit each other, plus we have the Internet, so it won't really be goodbye."
Orihime smiled at Tatsuki. "You're right, I'm being silly. Thank you, Tatsuki."
"Don't mention it," Tatsuki replied.
"I'm curious," Uryuu questioned, "What is the name of this university?"
Orihime put a finger up to her chin, a thoughtful expression worming it's way onto her face. "Hmm," She hummed, before smiling sheepishly, "Eh heh… I kinda forgot… Sorry." She laughed nervously.
Everyone sweatdropped. "You're saying that you got accepted into a major university, then forgot which university it was," Ichigo deadpanned. At Orihime's vigorous nod, he face palmed. "Seriously, you amaze me sometimes, Orihime."
Orihime opened her mouth, most likely to thank Ichigo, but Uryuu hastily spoke up. "So moving on," the Quincy said, "What are you planning on doing, Keigo?"
There was no answer. Everyone turned to where Ichigo had punched Keigo to see the brown haired boy still lying on the ground, passed out.
"Well, he's no longer with us." Tatsuki deadpanned, "Thanks, Ichigo. You saved all of us a headache today."
"Speaking of people who aren't here," Ichigo looked around, "Where's Mizuiro?"
"I think he said that he's going on a date today," Chad stated, picking at his food.
"For the whole day," Uryuu inquired, a confused expression on his face.
Suddenly it dawned on all of them. Their faces promptly turned bright red and they shook their heads vigorously to clear the horrible images from their minds.
"So, Ichigo," Orihime said quickly, "What are you planning on doing after high school?"
Ichigo opened his mouth, but quickly closed it. He realized that he had no real plan for his life after high school.
"I'm… still thinking about it." The ex-Substitute Shinigami's scowl deepened slightly.
Everyone glanced at each other quickly before changing the subject. Ichigo caught this and mentally sighed. They were still pitying him.
Maybe, though, maybe it was time for him to move on and get on with his life. He could start applying to colleges, or maybe do a sport or join a club. He could ask his dad about maybe taking over the family clinic. Once he had a respectable job, he would get married, have two kids, and live a happy, normal life.
Ichigo sighed, out loud this time. No matter how much he tried, the thought of living a normal life just didn't appeal to him.
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Ichigo nearly jumped for joy when the final bell rang. The second half of the school day had gone just as badly as the first for the orange-haired teen, and he was ready to finally go home.
Ichigo stood up, yawning. He grabbed his school bag and slung it over his shoulder, before joining the steady stream of students heading out of their classrooms, moving towards the front doors of the building.
Normally, the ex-Substitute Shinigami would meet up with his friends after school and they would hang out for a few hours, but today all of them were busy. Chad had to go to boxing practice, Tatsuki had a martial arts meet, Uryuu had some family business to attend to, Orihime was going home to do some research on the university, and strangely enough even Keigo had said that he was busy.
As Ichigo walked out of the front doors, he suddenly got a peculiar feeling of being watched. Looking around at his fellow students, he searched for any sign of maliciousness in their faces. Not seeing any, Ichigo shook his head vigorously.
'The stress must be getting to me more than I thought.' He thought to himself. He shrugged it off and continued towards his home.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened for the majority of his walk home. However, once he was about three quarters of the way there, that changed.
Ichigo was making his way down a sidewalk lining a somewhat busy intersection when the sensation of being watched returned. Looking around suspiciously, the orange haired teen spotted a flash of gray disappear down a nearby alley. Curious, Ichigo decided to do some recon.
The former Substitute Shinigami turned down the alley only to see that it was a four-way intersection. Seeing the flash of gray disappear down the right hand alley, Ichigo, as silently as possible, jogged after it.
Ichigo followed the flashes of gray through the maze of alleyways. He realized that he was getting pretty far away from his home, and decided to give it one more turn before heading back.
Ichigo turned into another alley only to see that it was a dead end. Sighing, he turned around to go back only to see a gray barrier blocking his path.
"What the hell," Ichigo shouted. He tried to shatter the gray wall of energy with his fist, only to quickly pull his now smoking hand away with a shout of pain.
"Okay, so punching a strange barrier made of energy that was clearly intended to keep me in here wasn't one of my smartest moves," Ichigo growled, rubbing his burnt hand while inspecting the barrier. It was made up of dark gray energy that was swirling in bizarre patterns, and didn't seem to have any real point of origin that he could see. He had never seen a barrier like it before.
Deciding that he wouldn't be getting out through the exit, Ichigo turned and inspected the dirt-covered alley. It was somewhat narrow, maybe six or seven feet across, and as he had noticed earlier it was a dead end, with the end of the alley being about twenty feet away. However, the walls seemed to be really old, and had numerous chips and cracks that he could use as hand and footholds.
"Looks like I'll be climbing," Ichigo decided, walking over to the wall.
As he started looking for a good starting place, however, his senses, honed through numerous battles, suddenly screamed for him to move. The strawberry quickly complied, diving to the side just in time for a blade to pass over the back of his head. Ichigo hit his head on the landing, causing him to see stars and feel a small warm trickle go down the side of his head, but a flash of gray appeared in his peripheral vision and he quickly rolled out of the way just in time for a gray blade to pierce the ground where his head had been less than a second before. He turned his roll into a crouch and jumped a fair distance away, and got his first good look at his attacker.
"N-No way..." Ichigo breathed, completely stunned. He was expecting some sort of Hollow, or possibly even a rogue Shinigami, but what he was seeing was beyond anything he had imagined.
Standing in front of him was the same creature from his nightmare. The one that had killed Rukia.
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A/N: Aaaaaaand that's a wrap! So as I said, I actually wrote most of this a while ago. However, I took a very long break from writing. Without getting too personal, I did not feel up to writing for that time. I now feel up to it much more so than before. While this is the same chapter, I did edit the living crap out of it with the help of my wonderful beta who also edits your author's notes and doesn't get paid enough for this, so it's hopefully much better than before.
Onto the next point. This story is going to be different from the canon after this point. By a lot. I don't really know how that's going to be taken, so I hope you guys like what I have in mind. I can't really promise regular updates. I can try for once a week on Fridays, but no promises there. I am a poor, busy college student. Please take mercy on my soul. If you want, I can totally bug his butt about this… every day… every single waking minute.
So! Hihi! Empress of Ice here! I'm the lovely and adorable beta he speaks of! While his notes will be in bold, mine will be in italics! This was a pain to edit. I had to yell at him and explain basic rules of grammar. It was like teaching a poor student. Much like the actual author, I hope you enjoy reading this story! I, personally, am quite excited to see where this ends up!
Attacks on my life aside, that's about all I have for now. Until next time, tati bye bye for now!
