Dedicated to one of my best friends…. She doesn't even know this is for her lol…but I would honestly be no where without her… I love her to death (as a friend) so I hope she likes it when she reads it…if she does…really hope she does lol… if not I fail… anyways this is NOT my first fanfic…I'm a veteran on this site…been here for many years so don't think this will be crap because it will not be…not only that but I'm well versed on bleach, so it'll be completely on topic…so without further a due…
Ethicality and Morality
Time stops short…only for the weak…
Slash upon clash; the ringing of metal scrapping together in a harmonious bloody tune littered the air. Light vs. Dark…the battle raged on. The victor would win the ultimate prize while the loser had to endure the most crucial of sacrifice.
"Ichigo..." the menacingly tainted shrill voice echoed off the nonexistent walls, "Don't you see? You never got any better… That was my strength baring your pitiful wins." The dark half of Ichigo; his hollow half, swayed nonchalantly back and fourth on the balls of his feet raring to resume, "All you have is a big bulking mass of reiatsu that you can't handle. It's pathetic…wasting so much power...so naïve…Ichigo…Ichigo…Ichigo… don't worry…I'll help ya by putting you out of your miserable wreck for a life." He darted quickly forward touching down against the hard, blue concrete solid ground only once breaking it in slightly at the pressure. I stared blindly at the coming hollow…no half hollow….the other half of him being myself. Fighting what seemed my own self was bittersweet. I knew his strategies and what certain muscle movements meant, but that didn't mean I could stop any attack that came in my direction.
"You won't" I painted pulling Zangetsu out of the ground where it recently held home, standing in a ready position, "win…I've beaten you before…this time won't be any different." He laughed harder than before appearing behind me slashing upwards letting my blood drip to the cold terrain. A large cut had formed from the small of my back all the way up till my right shoulder. I winced as I swung backwards letting out a low grunt of a battle cry.
"Ichigo…I LET you win all those times… it was all to give MYSELF a stronger body…more mature powers…but now…now I can take it from here…your growth alone means nothing anymore." His speech did what I'm sure he intended it to…The Adrenaline cooled down leaving me with nothing but pain. Most definitely I wasn't dealing with an amateur in battle. Walking over to my heavily breathing self he starred at me almost with pity for a moment before a crooked smile formed. The kick to my stomach came fast making me roll several times in the opposite direction of him; various limbs hitting the ground scrapping and bumping leaving bruises up my arms in attempt to slow myself down.
"Even if you did…" I caught my breath digging Zangetsu's tip in the cement, "Even if you did 'let' me win all those times. I'm not going to lose this time." Slowly my body was able to prop itself up with thanks to the support of my zanpactou's hilt. "I have too much to stay alive and in control for." If I could see the determination in my eyes I'm sure it would have astonished even myself. My hollow seemed slightly taken a back, but just followed up with insane laughter.
"Oh I get it…I know exactly what you're afraid of" He darted forward again gripping my throat in his hand, slamming me into the side of the recently formed building. "You don't want that Rukia girl to see you lose control." He pressed harder pressing my head partially into the blue building. "You don't know do ya?" He grinned at my facial expression of slight confusion. "This is great…you don't even know that you fell in love. What a dense king." His neon yellow eyes starred at me intently as he pulled his elbow back getting his version of Zangetsu in a stabbing position pointed directly at my heart.
"I…I don't love her…She's a good friend…one that's precious to me that I'll go back to no matter what." I pushed him away with the remaining strength I possessed. Shock lingered on his face before resuming his grin.
"Good…ya still have some energy left in ya…wouldn't want to end this already. Maybe if ya put up a good fight I'll only destroy half of Soul Society." His eyes grew wide in excitement as he I'm sure thought of something else to add to his to do list. "That Rukia girl…How bout if this fight pleases me enough I'll rape her so you can feel it…I wont let ya fade till I do it. That sounds good." He waited impatiently for me to retaliate.
My anger was at its peak. Him threatening my well being is one thing, but…Rukia's!? This had to end…and it had to end soon. I wouldn't have had been able to last more than five more minutes. "son of a-" I didn't finish, too busy swinging with all the force I had recklessly at him. All I got was concrete. He was too fast and at the moment I was way too slow even in Bankai. "Fuck." I spat on the ground preparing myself for when he came out of hiding.
…Fear is only for the weak and simple minded…
He kept coming swing after swing; diagonal cuts lining my torso's edges looking like crimson stripes. I stumbled backwards panting against a blue skyscraper that went upwards vertically instead of the usual horizontal. Its contents started to crumble; debris started to fall. My hollow just laughed setting Zangetsu across his shoulders; the seemingly nonexistent breeze letting the wrap that acted like a make shift sheathe sway haphazardly in the air.
"I'm not going to lose." I swore to him, but it was really more to me than anyone else. Once again I gripped the hilt of my zanpactou tightly pulling him out of the ground pointing the tip towards the hollow.
"We'll see about that." He squinted his eyes shunpoing at immeasurable speeds towards me. I had no time to react. It was impossible contact was inevitable. I braced for the brunt I knew would come. After seconds of anticipation no new pain ruptured anywhere on my body. Slowly my eyes reopened to only find a white Zangetsu slightly pressed against my throat with eased pressure.
"What? Cant kill me?" I spat at him. He pushed the blade tighter to my throat slamming my body against the last bit of vertical building that remained.
"Don't be stupid. I just wanted to understand something before you're gone for good." Brick and after brick the demented skyscraper under us both deteriorated. I could only swear to myself with gritted teeth. "Every time you fight…what do you fight for?" The confusion written across his face was apparent.
"I fight for what I want protect. My family, friends, Rukia…Everything I care about." I said truthfully gripping the fist that wasn't preoccupied with Zangetsu's hilt.
He laughed like he now understood some unknown common sense. "I get it… I finally get it." I was slightly shocked at his sudden epiphany. "You don't fight for them…you fight for yourself. That's what everyone fights for." My eyes grew wide in anger. I kicked him off myself with new found strength.
"No way in hell I'm gonna let you get away with telling me that load of shit." I darted forward feeling all the strains and cracks that came with such an action in my condition. Feigning right, but attacking left I struck him…or so I thought. He caught it…he caught the blade in his hand. No blood or anything. He just…caught it. I swore under my breath momentarily wondering how possible it was for me to beat him.
"It's not like I'm lying. Think about it." What happened next almost made my heart stop. He squeezed his hand harder shattering the tip of my Zangetsu making my eyes go wide in both astonishment and slight annoyance. "For humans…you have these so called 'emotions' that control you; use you. That's what makes you all such a weak race." He ripped the rest of my zanpactou; my hand still in shock slightly trembling, out of my grasp throwing it a good ten yards onto its side.
"That's a lie." I turned my head only to have it slammed back into the building.
"Touchy." He flashed another crooked smile. "All you humans know how to do is protect yourself. A natural impulse I'm sure. In fact all creatures are immoral. They don't give a shit about anything else."
"No you're wr-"
"You know I'm right." My neck was squeezed tighter while being slammed again into the building. "Humans know no ethicality. When you save someone else you do it so you yourself don't feel regret. When you do a good deed you do it so you feel good about yourself. When you die for someone…no matter whom…it's so you feel worthwhile like your existence didn't go in vain." I couldn't say anything… there was nothing I could disagree with. How I hated to admit it, but he was right.
If you're mind grows weak you shall surely die.
"You're silence is reassuring that my message has gotten across to your pathetic mind. Ethicality and morality. Such a joke…" His hand grew even tighter; throwing my body, by the throat, to the floor no fewer than seven feet.
I felt my eyes close.
I felt the ground give from under myself.
I felt my grip on life slowly fading.
I felt the vibrations from 'his' chuckle as I plummeted downwards.
I felt the air rush by me as darkness enveloped my body.
I felt myself slowly dying; disappearing.
Ethicality…something the world has never truly known. Something that was made in place of words such as selfishness and greed. Ichigo… listen up! Find the strength to move on. Learn acceptance in the very least.
"Ichigo…wake up." A groggy; soft voice welcomed me to the world of the conscious. In fact so did a tiny hand on my bare chest slightly shaking my body. I glanced over to see Rukia…in my bed…naked. Well, wrapped in my sheets, but naked nonetheless.
"What are you doing in my bed Rukia!? My family! You're you're…" My face grew red as a blush crept across my cheeks and nose. I whispered the next part still in shock, "…naked." My eyes wandered to her chest briefly not being able to help myself, but looked away quickly after.
She leaned over to me with a slight laugh cupping her hand next to my ear mocking my whisper, "Well…it's hard to have sex when we're clothed." She laughed some more leaning back letting the covers that were draped over her fall exposing her chest. Quickly I pulled the comforter up to cover all the way to her neck. She looked at me like I had gone insane. "The kids are at school we're fine." She nonchalantly said turning her back to me sighing before closing her eyes, "Go back to sleep Ichigo clearly you're still not coherent."
My eyes went wide in shock, "kids!? I was talking about my dad! Karin and Yuzu…" Yeah…I was going insane.
"Ichigo…" She felt my forehead with a slightly concerned look, "Are you feeling alright? Don't you remember we moved out of your dad's house 10 years ago? When you were 18" I stumbled out of the bed trying as best as I could to cover my manhood while running out of the room; Rukia quick on my trail.
"I don't look like I'm 28!" I peered into the mirror in the bathroom seeing the reflection of the same 16 year old I last remembered. Hell, I even hit myself in the face a few times.
"Ichigo stop that!" She grabbed my hand stalemating the slaps to face. "You're a shinigami…you won't age that fast anymore. You're body is more like a Gigai now."
My ever so curious eyes wandered again, "You're naked!!!"
"We clarified this! Ichigo…you act like you don't remember anything…" She slightly squinted at me in suspicion. "You are Ichigo right?"
"Of course I am! Who else would I be?" I was slightly offended that she momentarily thought that I wasn't who I was.
"You're right no one else could fake that hair color." She stuck her tongue out pulling my hand leading me out of the bathroom and down the staircase. In front of me a large house unfolded. It was actually a really nice house; an upper class house for sure. I lived here?
She must have seen me looking around at the extremely expensive looking house, "Since soul society won't let us marry till you're officially dead which probably won't be for a while, brother decided to give us a house in the living world once Masaki came along since he thought it improper for us to have children yet no house to call our own. He wasn't too thrilled it was with you though. You must have beaten him pretty badly back then to make him hate you this much."
"Masaki!?" I starred her down like she was crazy.
"Yes, your daughter…" She paused for a second for me to comprehend what she said…no such luck. "Oh my god Ichigo… you forgot your own daughter!?"
"I have a daughter!?" She slammed her face into her palm pulling my arm with more force, almost making me trip, over to a table with various pictures across its surface.
"Here." She shoved one of the frames in my face. It contained a small petite girl that looked about ten with black hair and amber eyes. I was speechless to say the least.
"We…had…a kid? …A girl? Together…But that means we've had sex." She slapped the back of my head again with lots of force.
"Ichigo I think you've taken one too many hits to the head lately." She walked away from me grunting with hands folded over her chest. I had to sneak a look at her walking away; to watch her slender body unburdened by clothes walk indifferently away.
"You're not helping much if that's the case." I grunted rubbing the sore spot.
After she exited the room, hearing the faint taps of her feet walking up the staircase, I returned my focus to the picture frame. There were two other kids in the picture, one looked to be eight or so while the other five. Both had violet; blue eyes that drew me in mimicking what Rukia's usually did to me. The boy had orange hair while the other girl brown.
"She wasn't lying…We have…kids." The shock slowly started to fade in my voice. After the, I guess, thirteen years of shinigami work I grew pretty indifferent to surprises.
"Why would I lie about our kids?" She said looking annoyed when she returned to the room fully clothed.
"No, it's just…I don't… remember any of it… none of this…Rukia… I don't remember falling in love with you." My sullen expression would have been quite a sight to see. She slightly waved in her stance leaning against a counter.
"oh."
"Rukia… I'm-"Before I could finish we heard a faint "mommmmmmmm… dadddddddddddd" come from the front of the house. I froze.
"Ichigo! You're still not dressed! Go!" She practically pushed me back upstairs via another staircase…how many were there in this house?
After dressing in a pair of black sweatpants and a white beater I walked slowly downstairs. "I have kids…god this doesn't make sense…hell…I don't even remember what I was last doing. Where the hell am I? This isn't real is it?" My head was a complete jumble of answerless questions.
"Dad!!" A little girl, Masaki I assumed, ran up hugging me tightly. "Guess what?" She seemed overly excited practically jumping up and down in place. I glanced at Rukia for a second before returning my attention to Masaki…my daughter.
"What?" I let out a genuine smile realizing how perfect she was. An ideal blend of both a Kuchiki and Kurosaki.
"Nooooooo! I wanna tell him!" The boy argued pushing Masaki out of the way. For help I quickly eyed Rukia in a frantic gesture.
"Kaien," she over pronounced the name to help me, "Don't push your sister." Both siblings grunted turning away from each other.
"Well, one you tell me. Don't make a large fuss then forget what you were doing." I ruffled the hair on both of their heads. Masaki was quick to fix it, but Kaien left it as is.
"Wewereattheparkandwesawahollowthenthisshinigamicameoutofnowhereand…" During her first in take of breath after the massively long sentence I stopped her.
"Whoa, too fast…slow down" I sat down in a dining room chair looking at my daughter who was telling the story.
"Kaien and I were walking home from school and this hollow came out of no where. We could have taken it, but this shinigami came and beat the crap out of it. He sliced it up with his zanpactou and everything!" She was overly excited still; her brother mocking her expression.
My smile turned into a frown. "What if a shinigami wasn't there?" My concern started to expand within my head. "What if you didn't get to watch a cool fight…instead you had to look at it with fear." I grew frustrated sulking off to the other room away from the two kids and Rukia.
A few moments later I felt a small hand on my shoulder, "You shouldn't scare them like that." She sighed sliding around me to sit on my lap. "What happened to you Ichigo?"
Silence lingered far too long for my liking. I didn't want to answer a question I didn't know the answer to, so I changed the subject. "In that picture you showed me…there was a third girl…small…brown hair…Is she ours to?" Her face suddenly filled with features signifying sadness.
"Yeah…she was ours…She's not with us anymore." A tear dripped down her face making a wavy path of liquid.
"What do you mean? Did…she die?" I choked out the words hugging her slightly awkwardly not knowing what the best action would have been in the situation.
"No…more like consumed. See…our kids were born with…hollows. Masaki's is actually quite peaceful for a hollow while Kaien's was just plain lazy…they were able to easily defeat their hollows when they came into their shinigami powers around age four. Both the hollow and their selves were premature so it was a fair fight. But…Hisana…her hollow was strong and cruel. She was overcome." Her sobs were starting to slow as she tried to regain her composure before our kids came into the room.
"And what happened after-"The look on her face told me I didn't want to know, but I knew I had to find out.
"You killed it. There was nothing left of her…you had to." My eyes went blank; my features emotionless.
"I…I...god how was I ever able to find the strength to do that." I gritted my teeth squeezing my eyes shut.
"It was the ethical thing to do…" My eyes opened wide.
"What did you say!?" I shook her slightly waiting for her to speak again.
"It was the ethical thing to do? You know right, fair, moral." Her sobbing stopped completely as she rubbed any stray liquid away.
"Ethical…" My mind flashed to the menacing neon yellow eyes I grew so accustomed to. "I get it…heh thanks Zangetsu…" The scene changed as the walls slowly faded to black; Rukia slowly disappearing with a smile. The old man himself appeared behind me.
"You understand Ichigo? I can't do anymore. My powers are limited to you while you're not in control." I grinned grabbing a hilt out of thin air pulling Zangetsu's shikai form out of the darkness.
"I won't need anymore help. This I can do all on my own." All my wounds felt no pain; in fact I felt brand new. It was my world; my mind. I controlled what I felt, not him. With a few effortless shunpos I flew upwards seeing the blue starting to reconstruct around me as I went.
"Oh, this is a surprise I thought you already faded. This is good though, I wouldn't have been able to deliver on that rape deal." He still had Zangetsu's Bankai form in hand as i stopped a few yards from his figure.
Focus on what you need in order to strive for the future
"Didn't I tell ya already I'm not losing?" With ease I shunpo'd past him leaving a long slice up his chest. Blood dripped steadily from the wound to the floor.
"Don't think because you got a cheap shot in you're going to win. Don't get cocky." His eyes grew mad as they grew brighter. I only grinned at his agitated state.
"Give it up…It's over. This is MY mind…I control what happens. Zangetsu is MY partner; he obeys me not you." With a few more masterfully placed shunpos and stabs I soon had my hollow painting with black blood dripping everywhere.
"Son of a-"With a strong ray of blue light I placed my finishing blow all but destroying the hollow. I walked over to the battered and broken creature on the ground covered in blood and injuries.
"I realized something…there are such thing as ethicalities. They're rare yes, but there are some." My serious looked faded to a sigh as I walked away swinging Zangetsu up across my shoulders, "Don't you dare cross me again. It will be your end indefinitely because I've realized…" I turned with a genuine smile his eyes meeting with mine, "that I have something so much better than I thought to live for."
He spat blood on the ground trying to lift his broken and battered body up. "And what's that?" He said as if he really didn't care, but was talking just to remain conscious.
"Like hell I'd tell you." I turned and continued walking.
"heh, looks like we'll be having a queen soon huh Zangetsu?" The hollow said before passing out fading away. Zangetsu looked away disgusted, but smiled thinking of the thought.
"Hey everyone he's waking up!" Not the voice I would have wanted to wake up to but it was something.
"Oi, Renji don't need to yell in my ear." I pushed him over sitting up myself.
"Finally! You scared the crap out of me." Rukia came to my side kneeling down with her hands on her knees.
"What happened anyways?" I asked shaking my head ruffling my hair.
"You just collapsed while…" Sudden realization struck.
"Rukia!" I hugged her…before thinking might I add, tightly ignoring the sounds I heard in the background.
"What the hell Ichigo let go." I refused to.
"Thank You." She probably had no idea why I was thanking her, but I did it anyways.
She smacked me hard making me slide into a desk. "Dumb ass…what the hell was that about?"
"Nothing." I peered away slightly scared of her now. I looked around realizing I was in a classroom…not only that but surrounded by my whole class. Well my whole class except Orihime who was sulking in the corner for some reason I couldn't fathom. They all laughed while both Rukia and I grew red.
Keep striving Ichigo…Keep thriving till you come to your last breathe… Rukia...keep him strong…keep the rain from coming down for as long as you can not only for me, but for him as well.
The End.
A/N: Hope You Enjoyed. I loved writing it. R & R means a lot to me.