I do not own Bleach anime or manga, or any of the characters it contains within. I just own this fanfic that's all.
Rain falls, splashing down on the ground outside the window. I turn and look with an unreadable expression on my face, but inside I slowly fill with a mix of emotions.
Agony, rage, regret, and strangely enough anticipation. As if somewhere deep inside I knew something was going to happen, but what that was I didn't know.
Oh I guess I should introduce myself...name's Kurosaki Ichigo age 15 high school freshman, and I have quite the special ability. It's because of this ability that my entire life changed in the blink of an eye.
At first I assumed that the only ability I had was to see ghosts, but things had away of proving you wrong when I met...her...one Kuchiki Rukia and partners in crime so to speak Urahara Kisuke and Shihouin Yoruichi.
That was NOT the highlight of my day I'll tell you, as my life has been filled with hell ever since.
Well let's just say that my other unique talent was to be able to see Death Gods or Shinigami as they are called. Being born from a Shinigami father and a human mother gives you incredible spirit power or reiatsu which ever name you wish to call it.
Luring fallen souls A.K.A. Hollows to me, all so they can devour my eternal soul. Heh what a bunch of BS, I tell you those damn things don't ever let up. No matter how many times their sorry asses get handed to them, they don't learn their lesson. I have been told that when I turn 16 tomorrow, it's gonna get a whole hell of a lot worse. Great...things just keep getting better and better.
For the one month she was here, Rukia became my bodyguard. Apparently with the amount of reiatsu I was spilling everywhere, hollows would constantly attack me because they wanted to eat my soul.
Then she had to go back to Soul Society, and since she didn't want to leave me alone recruited Sandal-hat to keep watch over me.
I swear that guy has something fishy up his sleeve, he always has that self satisfied smirk upon his face, and to top it all off no matter how many times I tell him to piss off, he is always to be found somewhere near by.
But the one time I needed him, he was nowhere to be found and I was left to my own devices. While she was here Rukia had taught me some Kidou spells in case I ever needed to protect myself.
She said that with the inordant height of my reiatsu would allow for me to utilize powerful kidou spells if taught how to use them. I was able to pick up three of them quite easily, one was a binding art and the other two were Way of Destruction spells. Paralysis and Shot of Red Fire were the two I was able to use properly, but the other one was not as simple to use.
Blue Fire Crash Down kept going wrong no matter how many times I practiced, and all it ended up doing was fizzling out before it could even be activated. I knew the concept in my head, but for some reason I couldn't get it to work.
The phrase ' desperate times call for desperate measures' could be put to use when that was exactly how I learned how to use it properly for the first time.
Karakura High School- July 14- Time frame about 3:50pm
The bell rings signaling the end of classes for the day, now I can get out of this hellhole and go home. Picking up my stuff and walking out of the classroom and out the front doors. As I started walking home, I felt uneasy, almost as if something was watching me.
If it was that bastard Urahara again he was gonna let him have it, this was getting to be a pain and he couldn't take much more of this. " URAHARA QUIT FOLLOWING ME YOU STUPID BASTARD" I yelled out, getting more pissed off by the minute.
As expected Urahara appeared right in front of me " Come now Kurosaki-san, we can't have you getting yourself eaten that would defeat the whole purpose" Urahara said with his usual 'I know something you don't know' smirk. " If you were a bit more careful with your reiatsu you wouldn't need watch..." breaking off in mid sentence quickly looking towards something in the distance.
" It's coming Kurosaki-san prepare yourself." He said with for once a serious face and Ichigo knew this wasn't the time to argue. Urahara only got that look when it was time to fight, without a word his personality would change like flicking a light switch.
Silently Ichigo braced himself to back away, but it appeared there would be no time for that.
A huge reiatsu was flooding the area and then a horrible scream that made his blood run cold. This was by far the largest and most menacing power he had ever felt, and he had run into plenty of these things.
However with Urahara-san taking care of it, the saying 'don't blink or you will miss it' applies perfectly here. That wasn't to be today unfortunately as Urahara was nowhere to be found, and the hollow was right in front of him.
Without even thinking about it Ichigo dodged the arm flying down towards him and shouted " Binding Art 1 : Paralysis" which worked for about half a minute and then the hollow smashed it's arm down, with Ichigo dodging for his life.
" DAMN YOU URAHARA!!! why is it that you are never around when someone actually needs you to be here. GET THE HELL OUT HERE OLD MAN!" Ichigo screamed at the top of his lungs. Thinking a hundred thoughts a minute and trying to come up with a solution to this problem was proving to be easier said than done.
The hollow was gaining on him no matter how fast his feet were carrying him, and there was no way he could defeat it. This is what it comes down to in the end, to be killed before I even reach age 16..what a way to go. Well I don't know about anyone else, but if I have this reiatsu and it's what's luring these bastards to me..then maybe I would be better off if I didn't have it anymore.
I cannot fight them the way I am now, I cannot do ANYTHING..shit! There has to be some way out of this, I absolutely refuse to die here!. All of a sudden Ichigo stopped, his body was on fire and it hurt to move, hell it hurt to breathe. His body started to glow with an intense blue aura and surged around him like a shroud, raging forth as if it possessed a will all it's own.
Falling to his knees Ichigo panted harshly and tried to ignore the pain, but it was almost too much. Facing the hollow and enduring the pain of his very being, he screamed and launched an attack with every bit of power he possessed hoping that it would pull through.
Using the chant to unleash a stronger spell he went on the offensive.
Oh rulers, he who is crowned with the name of man, wears a mask of blood and flesh and has ten thousand fluttering wings, with truth and moderation, lightly scratch your nails against the wall of a dream that knows no sin, Destructive Art 33: Blue Fire, Crash Down!
What happened next was nothing short of pure and utter destruction.
The blaze of azure energy shot forward and completely disentigrated the hollow and kept on going to crash into a building turning it to rubble in mere seconds.
Ichigo's hands were slightly burned from the power he unleashed and with one last look he smiled slightly and said " I guess I showed him" then as he passed out toppled down to the ground to fall flat on his face.
Out of the shadows a lone figure emerged and walked over to the unconscious form of one Kurosaki Ichigo.
" Well Kurosaki-san, it appears you didn't need assistance after all now did you? We seriously have to teach you a little something called control. We cannot have you destroy random buildings with even more random reiatsu bursts, even if they are Kidou arts. It seems that you are finally ready to learn how to use your power, we don't have time to waste so you had best prepare yourself." Urahara's voice was slightly amused and at the same time astonished.
He knew that Kurosaki had great potential, but this was way more than he had ever expected. Half-Shinigami half human made one hell of a combination to make up the young man laying in front of him.
Not even 16 yet and his powers were barely tapped into, if this was the result of a fraction of his power, what the hell was he capable of with full power?
It was certainly going to be interesting finding out, looking at the sky Urahara said softly " Isshin-san you have created something extraordinary, and I cannot wait to see what will happen in the future. Kurosaki-san's path will be long and hard, filled with pitfalls and disappointments but if he can endure it, then that resolve will carry him through it to the end."
With that he picked up the boy and made his way back to his shop.
Slowly Ichigo opened his eyes and blinked a few times to get used to his surroundings. It was completely dark in here, and there was a murmur of sound coming from the next room.
" Where am I? How did I get here? The last I remember was that hollow, a bright flash of blue and a vague feeling of using Blue Fire Crash Down correctly for the first time then falling unconscious. This certainly isn't the street, so someone was there and brought me to their house." Ichigo spoke softly and tried to get up, but to his surprise he couldn't move.
" What the...I cannot move my body and I ache all over, damn what a mess and where the hell am I?" Ichigo mumbled to himself as he still struggled to rise. He had to get up, he had no time to lay around doing nothing but try as he may he could not move.
Sighing bitterly at his situation, Ichigo gave up on his attempts to stand. Closing his eyes once more, he tried to feel the reiatsu of the ones in the next room. Sure he wasn't very good at it, but if he concentrated hard, even he could do this. Well what do you know, if it isn't good ol' Urahara-san, Yoruichi-san, and...some reiatsu he didn't recognize.
Concentrating some more, Ichigo let out a faint reiatsu pulse, telling those in the next room that he was awake. It took energy that he didn't have at the moment to call out to them, so this way would work much better. Sure enough, Ichigo could hear the sound of approaching footsteps and then the door opening. Urahara-san and Yoruichi-san both came into the room where he was laying. Yoruichi went over to where Ichigo was, and Urahara turned on the lights, flooding the room with it's brightness.
" I see you are finally awake Kurosaki-san" Urahara said to him in his normal cheerful voice. " It seems that you are becoming quite adept at getting yourself into trouble. If you keep this up who knows what might happen to you?"
" What the hell are you talking about old man? You left me there to deal with that all on my own you stupid fucking bastard! I have had it up to HERE with these things, I don't want to deal with them anymore, and I don't WANT THIS DAMNED POWER EITHER!. If this is what leads them to me, then I don't want to have anything to do with it, ANYMORE!!!" Ichigo exploded with rage and even Urahara was shocked to hear that come pouring out of the young man before him.
Yoruichi was stunned to say the least. She knew that Kisuke liked to test the limits of people, but leaving Ichigo to fend for himself against a hollow, with nothing less than a few Kidou arts was taking things a bit far. Sure Ichigo was able to pull out unimaginable power when push came to shove, but without proper training and knowledge, Ichigo was just a breath away from being a dead man.
" Ichigo...what happened exactly? Please tell me everything" Yoruichi asked him and turning to Kisuke with a look of deadly promise in her eyes said with an icy calm " Don't leave anything out."
Urahara shuddered inside at that look, and knew that he was in for some real trouble. Yoruichi was quite ruthless when someone she cared about was at risk, and it seemed to be that this young orange haired boy, was included in that list.
Ichigo looked at Yoruichi with surprise, by her words she knew nothing about it, and that bastard did it all on his own. While he just wanted to forget it, she seemed interested in his well being and was concerned about what happened to him. Well at least someone did anyway, glaring up at one Urahara Kisuke.
" Well I was leaving school, along the way home I could feel something strange. It was like there was someone watching my every move, and the feel of eyes on me was getting on my nerves. Then I could sense the presence of Urahara-san there and yelled at him to quit following me. After that he popped up and told me about my reiatsu control being a problem and that I was just asking to be attacked. Next thing I know this hollow appears, and Sandal-Hat there pulls his vanishing act. We fight, I feel funny and then when I thought it was the end, I got pissed off, used Destructive Art 33, destroyed the hollow, and passed out afterwards. That's pretty much it Yoruichi-san." Ichigo said to her.
Yoruichi looked thoughtfully at him for a moment before turning to Kisuke. " So you left him to his own devices eh? Faded off into the shadows, leaving an untrained human boy with no experience to battle on his own?" Before anyone could blink, Yoruichi had gotten behind Urahara and smashed him upside his head " YOU DAMNED FOOL!!! What the hell did you think you were doing? The whole point of watching him, was to make sure that nothing like this happened!" Yoruichi snapped at him.
" Now now Yoruichi..." Urahara began only to be cut off by " Don't give me that now now shit, you know that with the way he is now, he cannot hope to fight effectively, yet you let him try anyway! Your way isn't going to work, all it's going to do is get him killed, so I am going to take this boy and train him myself." Yoruichi was royally pissed off, and that was putting it mildly. Urahara knew from previous experience that Yoruichi's wrath was not something to be messed with or taken lightly.
" Ichigo were you serious when you said you didn't want your power anymore? If I could give you a way to wield it effectively against your enemies, would you take that opportunity? If you really want to give up your power, then I will let you do as you please, but I think that it would be a waste. I could train you to use it, and also how to suppress your reiatsu so that you can hide it from those seeking to find you." Yoruichi asked Ichigo and waited for his answer.
She knew that if he didn't want it, that breaking his chain link and soul sleep would indeed wipe him of his reiatsu. He would turn into a normal human being with no spirit powers, and could go about a normal human existence. If that is what he truly wished, then she would give it to him no questions asked.
She really hoped that he would consent to the training she offered him, his power could be a great asset if used in the correct way. With the upcoming threat, he would be a valuable ally, even if he wasn't a Shinigami. The potential for that was there, but he never gave any indication that he wanted to awaken that power. So she would work with what he did have, if he gave her a chance to work with him.
Ichigo looked at Yoruichi, contemplating her offer of helping him train to use this power of his.
He always thought of it as a burden, nothing but an unwanted complication in his life, and a constant source of headaches. The thought though of training with Yoruichi-san was exciting, she was strong and her speed was off the charts. Learning about this kind of stuff with her made it all the more interesting to see what she could teach him. " Yoruichi-san...it would be an honor to learn from you"
Ichigo smiled slightly at her as he saw her face light up.
Yoruichi was thrilled that he decided to take her up on this offer. This young man had the potential to be even greater than Kisuke or herself. It would be a long and drawn out process, but when she was done with him, he would be a force to be reckoned with. The thought of being able to push him to his limits, to see exactly what he was capable of, would be a rewarding experience in itself.
" Well first we will heal you up, and then at first light, we will begin your training. I look forward to working with you Ichigo. I expect great things from you, and above all else I expect you to work your ass off for me. Can you handle that? I want nothing but your best, and in turn I will give you mine."
" Yeah I can do that and more Yoruichi-san. I will go all out and hold nothing back, so you don't need to worry about that." Ichigo knew that Yoruichi's training would difficult, but he could handle anything she could dish out. Yawning, Ichigo turned over to try going back to sleep and Yoruichi's words to him.
" Come morning you better be ready for this kid " was the last thing he heard.
Well this is my first attempt at writing something from the Bleach series. Trying to keep them in character as much as I can, but it cannot be helped if it goes slightly off. Hope you like reading it.