*~*~*~*
In less than a second Ichigo had been killed. One instant his mother is trying to save him; the next instant a short, dark haired woman with a sword is fighting a giant, four legged creature with a fishing lure dangling out of its forehead. He stood watching his hysterical mother clutch his limp, blood soaked body, while being stunned by his out of body experience. Confusion and shock left his body rigid and inable to move from where he was standing. Trembling Ichigo tensely grasped a sudden unknown addition to his body; a long silver chain was nailed into the center of his chest, with the other end nailed into the same spot on his corpse.
The sword carrying woman had a tough time with the quickness of her enemy. Most of the time she went on the offensive the creature would nimbly move out of her range of attack and do so that whenever he dodged it would set him up for a good attack position. After the woman tried to take out her opponent by sword three times (being minorly wounded on the third try) she wised up on what to do. Running toward her enemy, holding her sword as if she was going to repeat the same attack, she faked a sword strike and assertively cried out an incantation. As the creature reacted to the fake a bolt of blue lightning exploed from the palm of the woman's left hand, struck the creature in its face, electrocuting and atrophying every muscle in his body with crackling indigo sparks. The electric attack immobilized the creature leaving all his muscles unable to move. The woman's plan worked perfectly; leaving her with an easy kill. The first words she spoke were with a pious tone of voice and a look of pride in her eyes,"Now you will pay for your sins against the living. All your crimes will go punished in Hell." And she then swung her sword down across the face of the monster, causing it to howl in pain.
A towering doorway of steel materialized behind the wounded monster. With a shriek of grinding metal the giant doorways opened and revealed an equally as giant shadowy entity garbed in samurai armor. With a malevolent chuckle it unsheathed its blade and effortlessly impaled the monster. The tissues that composed the monster's body startled trickling away like falling sand with gusts of wind as its aggravated cries sounded until all of its body was eroded away. When the creature was killed the executionor from hell sank back into the black depths beyond the door, followed by the doors moaning shut with a final bang and vanishing.
As the doors had closed the armed woman turned from her enemy's descent into hell and walked toward Ichigo and his panicking mother. Ichigo and the woman were both at a loss for words. Ichigo, because of his reality defying experiences and the woman because of her empathy for Ichigo and his mother. For a second the two just looked at each other without a word said until the woman broke the silence. "I apologize for not being here in time to save your life, but that is in the past." She spoke gravely and pensively. "My name is Rukia Kuchiki and I am a shinigami. What just attacked you and killed you is a hollow. Had I not been here to kill the hollow your soul would have been devoured by it."
Shinigami? Hollows? At the moment no information could clear the child's mind."B-but shinigamis aren't real! They're just from fairy tales!" Ichigo was scrambling to save any piece of reality that he could.
"They are very real. When you come to pass you will know this. You are going to a place called Soul Society. There you will live a thousand years before you start to age one Earth year and you will not have to fear hollows."
"But I don't want to go to Soul Society!" Ichigo protested. "I want to stay here with my momma! She can't take care of me if I am in Soul Society! I don't want to go!"
Little Ichigo ran to his mother's side. While trying to grab his mom he pleaded, "Momma! She is trying to take me away to Soul Society! She is trying to take me away from you, but I'm not going! I'm staying here with you!" His clutches moved through her body like it was air and his words fell on deaf ears. Ichigo's mom was still clenching her son's body and shouting out to a pedestrian who had stumbled on to the bloody scene and was calling for an ambulance on his cell phone. Ichigo's eyes widened and he didn't shout anymore when it dawned on him that there was no reaching his mom. He started to whimper and his eyes gushed tears. Never before had his mother ignored him and now the first time it happened it was a merciless first taste of life without his mother. Her lack of reaction was not a mere consequence of a mother disciplining her child that was acting like a brat, he was dead and he could never see her again.
Ichigo started to sob with pitiful, heart piercing screams. Rukia was at a loss as to what to do. She never did konsou on a lone child in a scenario like this. What could she say? On deciding that there were no words to make the situation any better Rukia acted by impulse. Rukia crouched down and took the agonizing child into her arms and embraced and tried to comfort him the best she could. Rubbing his back and placing her other hand on the back of his orange head she said, "I know you are facing times that would challenge you even if your mother was with you, but she isn't the only person that will ever take care of you. There are people in Soul Society that will love you and care for you until you are able to meet your mother. It's time for you to pass on, face your new life, and grow from it."
With that Rukia drew her sword and commited konsou while holding Ichigo. As Ichigo's body was illuminated with white light he lifted his head from her shoulder, looked into her eyes with his watered eyes and whispered, "Don't leave me when we get there." Rukia's own eyes began to tear up. She couldn't say anything to that; people who had passed appeared randomly in Rukongai, she would be lucky to find one of one hundred that she had performed konsou on. Still, she felt indebted to the kid and wanted to help him. "What is your name?"
"Ichigo Kurosaki."
"I will look for you in Soul Society."
At that moment Ichigo teleported to Soul Society with a flash of light, leaving Rukia alone with Ichigo's mom and the man that stopped to help. Shrill ambulance sirens could be heard cutting through the air and Rukia looked at Ichigo's mom thinking about how she would onlly be hurt again when the paramedics pronounce her son dead. Rukia studied Ichigo's face frozen in the pain that he died in and remembered it so that she might find him in the afterlife.
*~*~*~*
Ichigo's reflections of the past were streaming through his mind. His abrupt departure from the human world and his family. The first time he ever laid his eyes on a shinigami; the same shinigami being the first person to help him gain a firm foothold in his existence at Soul Society, and the friends that he had made in Rukongai. Those moments of his life came together to form what he had now: enrollment in the school that educated the shinigami that now resided in Seiretei.
It was Rukia Kuchiki that recommended him. It was by no miraculous chance that she found him(to the extreme surprise of Rukia). She did not even have to look for him more than once. As soon as young Ichigo learned where the gates to Seireitei were, he planted himself in front of the southern gateway waiting for her to come pick him up. The gate guardian Jidanbo came to the southern gate and talked with Ichigo on the reason for him waiting there. On learning Ichigo's intentions with Rukia, he is skeptical, but holds those feelings to himself as to not crush the child's hopes. Jidanbo befriended Ichigo and in Ichigo's time of waiting he discovers that Ichigo has a possibility to be a soul reaper since he contains reiatsu. Since the area along the southern gate was the most common one for konsou arrivals, Rukia decided to begin looking there and a few days after she met Ichigo she swiftly recovered him.
Though it had been years since he had last seen her, never could Ichigo forget Rukia Kuchiki. She helped him more than just once. If not for her he would be just a commoner in the streets of Rukongai. What she did for him made Ichigo find Rukia more beautiful than she was just by her appearance. Ichigo had heard of the great power of the Kuchiki nobility. Because of the family's reputation he expected Rukia to become captain someday and if so, he wanted to be her lieutenant.
The idea of being a lieutenant was not an unlikely thought. Ichigo had taken shinigami classes for four years and he received exceptionally high marks in hohou, hakuda, and zanjutsu: the shinigami skills of movement, hand-to-hand combat, and sword fighting. Kidou was something that Ichigo had difficulty handling. The basic levels of the spells were no problem for him, but those were the only ones he could pull off. The only other shortcoming he had was a shortcoming on a technicality. His ability to power down his reiatsu was completely ineffective. The only people he could ever train with were his teachers due to the might of his reiatsu which was impressive for the extent of his experience. There was much talk amongst people of the shinigami school about Ichigo Kurosaki. He wasn't at the level of Toushiro Hitsugaya or Gin Ichimaru before they earned their captain status at Seireitei, but he showed amazing potential none the less.
Ichigo was disturbed from his musings on Rukia by the ringing of the bell that dismissed class. After he picked up his hohou manual and rose from his desk his teacher called out his name.
"Yes, Instructor Seiba?"
"Come to my desk, Ichigo. I would like to talk to you about the prospects that are available to you in Seireitei." Instructor Seiba warmly beckoned Ichigo over with a smile and a wave of his hand.
Ichigo was eager to have this conversation. Instructor Seiba was a man that tried to bring the best out of his students and since Ichigo was a talented student Instructor Seiba always had words of encouragement for him. As Ichigo stopped in front of his instructor's desk Seiba began to speak to Ichigo as he sat from his chair.
"Now, Ichigo, it is no secret among this school that you are a gifted young man. As your teacher I want you to take full advantage of the skills that you have and let you know what your best choices are in Seireitei. Among the Gotei Thirteen each squad has its own preference for fighting style. Some prefer speed, some power, intelligience, kidou specialists, but among the thirteen squads there is only one which I think will take full advantage of your second division is one that utilizes soul reapers that have stealth and strength for missions of assasination or any other mission that needs such traits. Your exceptional speed will be found very useful to the captain of the second division, Soi Fon, and your strong fighting abilities will ensure that you get the kill fast. In time I feel that you could become vice captain."
As Seiba spoke Ichigo considered what was said and picked out what went against what he wanted to do. "I'm not sure assasination is my style. I like to fight my opponent head on and not be sneaky. Being an assasin is a cool thing to be, but I want a seat where I will be fighting the most hollows, so I can protect the souls on Earth."
The instructor chuckled in admiration at Ichigo's desire and sighed. "Ichigo, missions to the human world are evenly dispensed to the thirteen squads. Every soul reaper will receive about the same amount of time destroying hollows in the human world, so in choosing your division it is best to think of where you will be best utilized. If you enjoy fair man to man battle then the eleventh division has established its reputation by being combat fanatics, always willing to fight where a good challenge is in store."
Ichigo looked at the floor and pondered for a moment. He shook his head and replied, "No, I'm not the kind of guy that just looks for a fight." The orange haired pupil thought some more. "What about the thirteenth division? Is there any chance that there will be a promotion to captain or vice captain in that division?"
Ichigo's instructor hissed through gritted teeth. "There is a slight chance that there could be a promotion to captain since he is in poor health, but those words have been said for so long I strongly doubt the possibility; especially since captain Ukitake often recovers well and is one of the finest captains the Gotei Thirteen has. And as far as a vice captain spot goes don't even bother. That position is dead locked! There are two vice captains that share that spot, so if one goes the other will just continue in service and even if that last one leaves his position Rukia Kuchiki will surely be lieutenant. You keep this between you and me Ichigo; Rukia is barred from being a captain because Captain Kuchiki is too protective of her and holds Captain Yamamoto to an agreement that she can not be captain even though she is certainly talented enough for it."
With that last piece of information Ichigo had learned what he wanted to know. He could not serve under Rukia. At least he could be in the same division as her.
"Thank you for the information Instructor Seiba. You've given me a better view on what I can do in the thirteen squads."
Instructor Seiba stood up with a grin on his face and stood up to shake Ichigo's hand. Seiba was shorter than most men, had an appearance of about fifty, and wore a white mustache on his face that gave him a look of kind wisdom. "Thats why I am a teacher Ichigo. No need to thank me. Now run along to your dorm! The school day is over, but you still have work to do! Those advanced shunpo maneuvers aren't going to just suddenly work for you!"
Ichigo rolled his eyes and groaned. "Come on Instructor Seiba! Cut me some slack! I just finished class." With those last words Ichigo walked out of Seiba's classroom and made way for his dormitory to get some rest.
As Ichigo traveled down the wooden corridors of Seireitei Academy his stomach started to growl and he remembered that he had gone the entire day without breakfast because he had been late for his first class. 'Luckily the cafeteria is on the way to my dorm!' Ichigo thought with relief and turned left into the chatter filled lunch room. All around the cafeteria kids were laughing and talking with friends as they ate. Ichigo waved hello to a few groups of kids sitting at seperate tables. Ichigo didn't have best friends in Soul Society, but he did have plenty of amiable acquaintances. One thing Ichigo did not know though was that his reputation had earned him an envy filled rival.
Michiyaki Saita eyed down his orange haired enemy with enmity. Michiyaki was a student who showed promise, but he was not one of the top students of Seireitei Academy. Ambition was a strong part of Michiyaki's personality and his ambition fueled his distaste and jealousy for Ichigo. So many times Michiyaki had placed high in the rankings of the academy, but Ichigo was always there at the top. Sure there were other students above Michiyaki, yet Ichigo was the main factor involved in keeping Michiyaki out of the top percentage and he had to live in Ichigo's shadow as the second best hohou student. It was not just Ichigo's soul reaper talents that was the object of Michiyaki's envy: the number one student sometimes caught the eyes of a few of the academy's girls; one of those girls being a girl that caught Michiyaki's eyes. He glared at Ichigo as the orange haired soul reaper in training waited in line to get soba noodles and milk. A malicious grin gleamed across Michiyaki's face as he waited to spring what he had in store for Ichigo.
By the time Ichigo got his food, he waited through a skinny girl complaining to a cafeteria worker about how there was only high protein milk instead of low fat milk and two boys that were younger than him slowly taking their attention away from the dirty playing cards they were holding, so that they could place their order. Smirking with satisfaction at finally getting to have a bite to eat he walked away from the end of the lunch line with noodle bowl and milk carton in hand to sit at a table that had some friends from his hakuda class.
At midpoint to the table a thick sheen of wax suddenly appeared at Ichigo's footsteps causing him to slip with his feet parallel to his waist while he was in midair. He landed with a painful thud as his back and butt crashed to the wooden floor and his food spilled all over him. The students around Ichigo that saw his fall snickered and giggled. Ichigo, blushing and fuming wiped the noodles off his student robes and stood up to eye what caused his fall.
'Wax?! No idiotic janitor is going to wax a wooden floor!' Ichigo thought in confusion, but when noticing that the wax was steadily evaporating he realized that he had been pranked. Now being pissed off Ichigo glared across the room for any indication as to who did this to him.
"Psst! Ichigo!"
Ichigo turned his head to the girl calling him.
"It was Michiyaki! I caught him muttering a low level kidou spell and aiming it at you!"
"That scheming bastard! What should he have against me?! I owe you one Chiame."
The soaked and food stained Kurosaki marched his way through several students and prepared himself for a fight. Michiyaki had already got up from his chair and was waiting for Ichigo with a devilish smirk on his face.
At first Ichigo made no moves to start a fight. Through gritted teeth Ichigo shouted, "What the hell was that about, Saita?!"
Michiyaki laughed smugly. "Kurosaki, I just had to knock that cocky grin off your face. You come into Soul Society, enter shinigami school in a matter of days and rise to the top of the classes while skipping years of study. Someone had to put you in your place and that was me. Don't let that retarded Kuchiki bitch give you ideas by her thinking that you have what it takes to be a captain in Seireitei."
The moment Michiyaki insulted Rukia, Ichigo lost all restraint. She was an angel in his eyes and having Michiyaki insult a woman who so selflessly helped him and gave Ichigo his first feelings of love was something that absolutely required punishment.
Seething with anger Ichigo darkly proclaimed, "Rukia never helped me because she thought I had potential. She helped me out of the kindness of her own heart and so that I could be something more than a kid on the streets. If an egotistical snob like you can't understand that I'm kicking your ass because of what you said about her and not that prank you pulled then you are a pathetic little shit!"
At once Ichigo lunged forward toward MIchiyaki with a punch, but since Ichigo's emotions were overriding his thoughts Michiyaki could easily read his enemy's moves. Michiyaki dodged attack after attack, countering here and there, but mostly letting Ichigo tire himself out with his envigorated efforts.
From the frustration of his ineffective offense Ichigo only tried harder to hurt Michiyaki, giving it his all. Rushing into Michiyaki's attacks and enduring them Ichigo unleashed combination after combination of punches and kicks on him. By now everybody in the cafeteria was paying attention to the fight and crowding around the two fighter's and oohing at Ichigo's brutal mindless attacks. By the tenth hit Michiyaki was done and Ichigo finished him off with an elbow to the forehead. The teacher who was watching over the cafeteria as a monitor had been attempting to break up the fight the entire time it had been going on, but the crowd of kids had been preventing him from doing so. Now that the fight was over he penetrated through the kids and looked at Ichigo's bloodied mouth and nose, then Michiyaki who was clearly more hurt and was pouring more blood from his face.
The teacher looked at Ichigo and in a voice of disapproval said, "Orange, you are going to be in for it whenever you speak to the principal about this."
*~*~*~*
Principal Ikari was returning to his office from doing the end of school duties that every staff member of the academy did. As he wove in and out of the crowds of students, saying goodbye to the familiar ones, he was thankful that he had got his last paperwork out of the way before he had to so he could leave when school was out. When he arrived at his office and went inside to organize it and turn off the lights he realized that he had one last task to do.
Inside his office was his friend, a kidou teacher by the name of Ginjou Shunsuke, that was standing next to two seated students. One of them was the son of one of the noble clans in Soul Society, Michiyaki Saita and the other was the infamous Ichigo Kurosaki.
"Well, what do we have here?"
"Mr. Ikari, I caught these two fighting in the cafeteria. I did not get the chance to see who instigated the fight, so I will leave them in your hands to resolve whatever happened."
Principal Ikari chuckled, "Thank you Ginjou. I trust you will be at the staff meeting tommorow."
Mr. Shunshuke nodded in affirmation and left Principal Ikari's office.
The principal walked around the two seated students and his desk and sat down in his leather chair across from the boys. Michiyaki had a bruised face and a bloodied lip, Ichigo had barely a scratch on him. 'It must not have been much of a fight.' Ikari mused. The two boys sat with moody expressions on their faces in silence until Ikari spoke.
"Well now, seeing as how it is time for school to be over, I have no intention of dealing with the whole he started it routine. You boys knew the consequences for fighting when you signed the code of conduct. A week of In Building Suspension! And don't think that on squad selection day that you will be let out early so you can sign up on time! Our disciplinarian is strict on every rule that we have for IBS and other campus grounds. It was mentioned in the announcements that there would be no exception for the rules on the week of squad selection."
Ikari's punishment brought out strong reactions from Ichigo and Michiyaki.
"You can't do that! My father is of the noble familes and he provides funding for the Seireitei Academy!"
"Are you kidding me?! This is our future in the Soul Society! You can't punish us so harshly!" Ichigo shouted.
Principal Ikari slammed his fist onto his desk. "Don't put up a protest! I just told you I wasn't going to put up with any nonsense; now return to your dorms and report to the IBS room first thing in the morning before first period's bell rings!"
Michiyaki stormed out of the principal's office to his room and Ichigo was not slow to follow him out into the hallway. He did not utter a word to Michiyaki because of the news that the principal broke to him. Shock and disbelief was all that Ichigo was about at the moment. As Ikari's words sank in, Ichigo was on the verge of tears while he slowly sank down against the wall. Ichigo realized that if he was held in IBS all day then he would have the last pickings for a squad. The thirteenth division was very popular due to the squad's reputation for a fair, reasonable captain and the squad's usually amiable shinigami. His hands were squeezing his face in frustration since the chances of working with the woman whom he loved were now drastically slim. *~*~*~*
Yeah, yeah the chapter ends on sad terms, but don't worry! It gets happier! And keep in mind that in this story the plot isn't what it seems to be at first. You have to wait for the story to develop a few more chapters before you know how it will end up. Please, review my story and tell me what you think of it so far! I will try to update as soon as I can, but I don't have the entire story planned out. Its going chapter by chapter so it might be a week or two before the next chapter is up.