Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Bleach.
AN: This is for my FF . net friend Speedykitten1643.
If there was one thing that Kagome disliked... it was strawberries. She disliked anything scented with strawberries, anything that tasted liked strawberries, and anything that resembled a strawberry or called strawberry. Which was a strange thing for someone to dislike such a popular fruit. But her dislike for the strawberry led to another strange occurence, the love of her life was named strawberry. Ichigo was his name. Ichigo Kurosaki. How they came together was just as strange.
She was the new girl at his school. Kagome and her family had moved after the well had closed and had left her in a depressive state. Her mother had decided a change of pace was best for her and it turned out she was right. The new surroundings were just what she needed as well as the new people.
Her new best friends were nothing like Yuka, Eri, or Ayumi. Orihime, Tatsuki, and Rukia were so different from the other three but at the same time they had some similarities. The similarity came in the form of a boy. Only this time it was an Ichigo instead of a Hojo and they were his friends and not in love with like the others were with Hojo.
The boys were so different. Hojo was sweet, persistant, annoyingly honest, and just plain, plain. He was your everyday average good guy. While Ichigo was brash, brave, bold, persistant (like Hojo), annoyingly honest (like Hojo), and was anything but your everyday average good guy. Unlike Hojo she found that Ichigo was a Death God, a warrior of souls like she was, but she didn't find that out until after a day at lunch at the school.
She hadn't been at the school but a couple of days and was coming outside to eat lunch with her new friends. They had called her over to sit with them and a few people she didn't know. She sat down and they had introduced themselves as, Keigo, Chad, and Uryu. She found that they were a great bunch. Keigo was obnoxious and bit immature, Chad was the strong silent type, and Uryu was aloof and very intelligent.
Half-way through lunch Orihime had stood up and called someone over and as they approached, Tatsuki offered Kagome some of her strawberries.
"Would you like some?" Tatsuki asked holding the strawberries.
"No thank you, I don't like strawberries." Kagome said.
"You don't! What is it you don't like? I think there delicious." Tatsuki said popping one in her mouth.
"To me strawberries taste like dirt and they smell atrocious. I have never liked them and still don't. Strawberries are absolutely disgusting to me." she explained.
"Hey!" a voice said.
Kagome turned around to see the person Orihime had been waving over to them. He was tall, handsome, and had orange hair and dark eyes. He also had a slight offended look on his face.
"Yes?" Kagome asked.
"Ichigo, this is Kagome." Orihime said to lighten the tension between them.
"The new girl, I like her." he said staring at her.
Kagome blushed. She knew what had just happened between them. She insulted him before she even knew what his name was and she hadn't meant to. Her and her big mouth. He had forgiven her and said that he liked her.
"Strawberry. Oops" she whispered.
"Did you bring any lunch Ichigo?" Orihime asked him.
"I didn't, but Rukia brought mine." he said and was handed a binto box from the small dark haired girl, Rukia.
"Dumb strawberry, can't do anything without me." Rukia said.
"Hey!" he scoffed.
"You know it's true. If I didn't sleep in your closet you would never get up on time for school." Rukia said and everyone laughed but Kagome, who was confused.
"You sleep in his closet! Are you together?" Kgaome asked Rukia.
"No, no, no. Oh, it is a very long story about why I sleep in his closet, very long story." Rukia laughed.
"Oh." Kagome said letting the subject drop.
Kagome watched as they interacted with each other. They were all so different yet they were the same. They all meshed together perfectly and she felt a peace with them, like she meshed together with them and belonged with them as well. But she noticed more that the strawberry was the cog that kept them together. Maybe strawberries weren't so bad. But then again as she saw the way Keigo and Ichigo got into it and Rukia and Ichigo got into it, maybe they were as bad as she thought.
Her musing was cut short though as a evil presence shot across her psyche. Kagome was used to feeling that and she had to get rid of the evil before it came after her and her friends or hurt other innocent people. She calmly thought of ways to excuse herself but she didn't get to. Her new friends were already on their feet making excuses to her that they needed to go do some things and then took off. Leaving her behind very confused.
She didn't let it stop her though, she had work to do. She took off in the direction she had felt the evil at. But what was strange to her was she felt all of her new friends there as well, they were in danger, she had to help. She quickly pulled her kei to the surface to be at the ready and burst into the park near the school, low and behold they were all there with this huge man with a number 10 on him.
"Yammy!" she heard Rukia exclaim.
"Reaper." the big man, Yammy, said.
"How did you get here? You were destroyed." Uryu said.
"I was, we all were. But we are back, all of us but the traitor reapers." he explained.
"Ulquiorra, he is..." Orihime said hopefully.
"Yeah he is and he is now King of Las Noches. You can't kill something that is already dead." Yammy said bitterly.
"Oh god, I've got to go to him." Orihime said to Tatsuki.
"I know but... why is he here?" Tatsuki asked pointing to Yammy.
"I am finishing my last assignment for Lord Aizen." he said and pulled his sword.
Kagome watched in silence as her friends readied themselves to fight. She could feel that this creature had so much power and was more powerful than they were and she was sure that they would be defeated. It wasn't her place to disrupt them, it was an old enemy just like Naraku was hers. They needed to defeat him and if they couldn't, she would step in. So she watched.
They were good she had to admit. Others like Ichigo and Uryu and Rukia were stronger than the others but she could see that without Orihime they would have been defeated long before. She could see that Orihime was a healer but also something else. She watched adamantly as they fought. The creature was reaching a limit but could go farther. Then he did. He did a release on his power and it shot up remarkably, pushing passed all of those fighting him.
Kagome was very worried as she watched them fight but she forced herself not to intervene. It was hard for her not to go to her new found friends. They were really taking a beating. Orihime was currently healing many of them and Uryu, Rukia, and Ichigo were still battling Yammy and were losing. She watched as they all fell but Ichigo. He kept coming back for more.
Never before had she seen such perseverance and well sheer determination. He even surpassed Inuyasha. But she could feel that something was happening to Ichigo and could feel it wasn't going to be good when it hit the peak.
Then it happened. Yammy knocked Ichigo back so hard that he went through many trees and then lay motionless. Kagome was going to finish him off when Ichigos' essence went all dark and sinister. It frightened her. It was more terrifying than what she felt radiating off of Naraku. She saw it then. Ichigo changed. He had a bone mask over his face, black and red eyes, a maniacal smile on his face, and was laughing like a pyscho.
She could see that Yammy was shaken and their friends were certainly terrified. He needed to be stopped before he hurt someone. She saw him shift and begin to charge Yammy. Kagome didn't think twice about what she did. She pulled her kei to the surface and made a bow and arrow. She saw Ichigo stop suddenly and everyone look in her direction. They could feel her power, as it surpassed Yammy's and Ichigos', in their current states, combined.
Kagome didn't let their staring or their sudden shouting at her to distract her nad she let her arrow fly. Yammy raised his sword to deflect her arrow but it didn't. Her arrow shattered his sword and the second it touched him, it purified him all the way down to the corrupted peices of his soul. She had truly killed him, she destroyed his soul and left nothing behind to bring back to the half-living.
Then she took advantage of their shock to get Ichigo back to normal and out of that Dark Ichigo he had fallen into. She moved with a speed they had never seen anyone possess. Kagome pulled a sutra out of her pocket and put her kei into it. Then she slapped it on Ichigos' forehead. The split moment before she put it on him, Dark Ichigo said one word to her.
"Queen." he said.
Then he was back to his self, panting hard on his knees before her. Kagome kelt down to him and he looked up at her. He had no idea what she had just done to him but he did know that she pulled him out of the dark. Then Kagome placed both of her hands on his shoulders and they began to glow a brilliant blue and Ichigo was engulfed in warmth. He felt all the pain he had from the wounds he had recieved, disappear and then when she pulled away all of his wounds had vanished. Without a word Kagome stood and turned to leave.
"Where are you going?" Ichigo asked as he got to his feet.
"Back to school. I'm late for math." she said.
"Wait for us." Tatsuki said.
Kagome walked slowly and the others caught up to her. They were chattering excitedly and asking her all kinds of questions.
"Are you a Quincy?" Rukia asked her.
"No." Kagome said simply.
"But you use Spirit Kei with a bow like I do and I'm a Quincy." Uryu said.
"Good for you. I'm a priestess." she said.
"She's not a stuffy Quincy." Ichigo teased him.
"Atleast she isn't an immature Reaper with a bad attitude and a smart mouth." Uryu said back.
"Hey!" Ichigo said.
"Actually I have a very smart mouth and a bad attitude, much like the strawberry. It is a trait that I picked up from some of my old friends." she said.
Ichigo had an annoyed look on his face. Just because his name meant strawberry didn't mean he wanted her to call him strawberry.
"Why is it that you don't like strawberries but you like calling me strawberry?" he asked.
"Well strawberry, I dislike strawberries but I don't dislike you. Actually I quite like you very much. You like me as well." she said.
"How do you know that?" he asked.
"You already told me as much, duh. Also you called me Queen." she said with a smirk.
"I did?" he asked, incredously.
"Yes you did." Orihime said, "Now if you all will excuse me, I have an Espada to find." and ran off towards Uraharas' shop.
"Good luck." Tatsuki said waving at her.
"I hope she gets a happy ending." Rukia commented.
"I do too, just like me." Kagome said.
"How have you gotten a happy ending?" Ichigo asked.
"I don't hate strawberries anymore." she said with a coy look at Ichigo.
"Ew." Tatsuki said, seeing the look she gave Ichigo.
"What are you going on about?" Ichigo asked her.
"Boy you are dense." Uryu said.
"What?" Ichigo asked.
"Kagome likes you more than as a friend." Chad said something finally.
"Really?" he asked.
"Well duh, Strawberry, otherwise I would still hate strawberries." she said.
"Oh." he said.
"No-one said you were smart, Ichigo." Rukia said.
"Wh.." he began.
"Don't start with her. She loves to bait you. Besides if you were smart I wouldn't like you." Kagome said and sauntered off.
Uryu, Chad, Tatsuki, and Rukia laughed at Ichigo as he ran off to catch up to Kagome. They could see it, Kagome was going to keep him running in circles.
AN: FIN! Done. My first and only Ichigo fic.