May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun
And find your shoulder to light on,
To bring you luck, happiness and riches
Today, tomorrow and beyond.
The Urahara shop had found itself in a flutter of commotion, despite being closed for the shopkeeper's holiday. Ururu and Ginta had been urged to hide themselves, as a regular guest was joined with a new comer baring the mark of the royal guard, the woman having an elegant twist to her hair like the mark of nobility.
The topic was of extreme care, as it involved his last pupil, and the decision was as final as death and despite the matter involving Ichigo, Isshin seemed un-involved.
"This is a matter of taking your son's future away from him. Of course I'm going to repeat myself." Urahara commented, looking down at the object at hand.
"Exactly. That's why I'm asking you not to repeat yourself."
"Of Course."
"Well then, let's finalize these proceedings, shall we?" an elegantly decorated woman murmured urgently, her voice stern as she turned her bright eyes on them. "Do it."
"Even if it's not my own wish, Ichigo will only allow himself to be strong. Its killing him not being able to protect people like he once was."
Looking to the woman with a sort of reverence, Urahara nodded softly while Isshin implored, "Just give me three days to sort out the situation."
XOX
Jumping up out of his deep sleep at the blaring sound beside him, Ichigo gasped, sharp hard breaths panting from his lips. Nightmares from the winter war had plagued him; the friends he had lost within instants shook him to the core. He had lost his Zanpakutou, the blade disappearing as it had cut through Aizen to end his very existence and send him into the deepest gates of hell.
He had been left shattered, broken alone in exile, unable to do the good he once had, and it was tearing him up inside.
It had been three weeks now since he had encountered the EXcution and his father had avoided all conversation with him, like he foresaw the next sit down conversation they had to go sour and straight to the month he spent in the Senkaimon.
Reaching up to rub his head roughly to get rid of the damned headache he had inadvertently received upon awakening, his auburn eyes briefly caught a glimpse of a scab on his right wrist in the shape of a horseshoe-like bite mark. Unsure of where he received it, Ichigo turned his arm this way and that to look at it.
A large bruise took over the better part of the top of the cresting bite mark, dark and sickly purple and green marring the once slightly sun kissed flesh of his inner arm.
The mark had appeared from nowhere. He had gone to bed quite late the night before, having found Yuzu and Karin sitting up waiting for him in the kitchen after his late night with the EXcution group.
They shouldn't worry like they did, he knew that. But deep inside, he was proud that they had grown the way they had, adapted to the malicious situation they had been thrust into.
Shaking off the mark on his wrist, he chopped it up to the random scrapes and bruises he normally acquired during his day to day activities.
Pulling himself from bed grew more and more a chore, as the days in his training grew more and more brutal. Yukio and Ginjou had allowed him access to Orihime during his endless training, and the level of intensity had multiplied along with the injuries settling into his pale flesh.
The weekend had passed and the group found themselves unable to keep the boy any longer should the authorities investigate his activities and so Ichigo had nothing else to do other than follow through with the life of a normal teenage boy.
Skipping through the kitchen just barely to nab an apple, Ichigo muttered a farewell to his sisters before heading out the door. It wasn't long until a tinkling noise behind him caught his utmost attention.
"IICHHIIIGOOO! " A shrill voice cried out behind him, as the sound of pounding feet headed towards him. He could hear the girl's heavier breathing as she approached him as fast as she could. He hesitated at the bottom of the stairwell, glancing backwards as she bounded forward, "Ichigo wait for us!"
Not only was Orihime on his trail, Tatsuke had joined her chase.
"How are you feeling, Ichigo? Orihime old me about the accident you and Uryu got into. Its fortunate the car only hospitalize Ishida-kun and scraped you up a bit."
It occurred quickly to Ichigo what Orihime had stepped up and done swiftly, as the girls had recently taken itself upon themselves to seeing to keeping up the loop in the group. A dark fluttering motion behind him drew Ichigo's attention for a moment before it was gone, settling the flower blossoms astray from the tree.
"Tsukishima?" he murmured silently. Orihime was the only one who noticed and had also looked the direction and shook her head at something Tatsuke had mentioned.
"They say Ishida-kun will be right enough to be out of bed after Thursday, but he won't be back in class until well into next week. We'll have to see to bringing him his school work."
XOX
"Hey hey hey! Where're you headed off to this late at night?" Ichigo called after his sister just as she disappeared from sight, "KARIN! KARIN GET BACK HERE!"
Realizing the girl would not be listening to him any time soon, Ichigo hefted the window further open, before jumping out the window after her, hitting the ground running like he had so many times before during his Shinigami duties.
A flutter of white silk shivered in the wind where his sister once stood, then, suddenly was gone without a trace. Ichigo looked madly around, searching, but could see nothing under the darkened cover of night.
Turning towards the flash of white, Ichigo took off towards where he could only assume the figure had gone off in.
He followed it blindly; unaware of the being that tailed his every movement like a waking shadow.
XOX
The night had begun like any other before it. At least that was how Karin had felt about the matter as she walked into her home at 8 that Saturday evening, her spirit hunting a loss for the fifth night in a row.
Coming into the front door, she called for Yuzu, looking around for her.
First she poked her head into the kitchen, expecting her fussing sister to be bent over a burning skillet, as the faint smell of fried meat wafted to her. Immediately then she took the hall one room at a time, poking her head into each door in search of the girl.
Opening their bedroom door, Karin called out softly, looking around the room for any sight of her sister. Once in the room however, she recognized her error, as she turned around, racing for the door.
Screeching softly, Karin moved to escape, grabbing at the door as a hand came down on her, dragging her to the floor.
"That's not a nice way to treat our cousin, Karin." Yuzu admonished in a sharp tone.
Turning to look at her blankly, the dark haired girl felt fear settle into the pit of her gut as she realized that her sister had been taken by a spell, and that she herself had no hope for escape.
The younger girl wrapped her thin arms tightly around her sister as she dragged her away from her only escape and from her hug, Karin didn't even recognize the blade would be upon her until it was too late.
XOX
Ichigo sighed deeply, reaching for the door knob to the medical center his father ran, pulling open the door and moving over the threshold. "I'm so glad you're home big brother!" Yuzu cried, tugging at Ichigo's arm persistently.
The interior of the room shocked Ichigo; as it was so late it was odd that his sisters had lit the room so brightly in awaiting him coming home, if he came home. He settled a soft smile at the way Yuzu seemed so overly excited to receive him home.
"You'll never guess who stopped by."
Glancing up however, everything lost its spark as he recognized the figure sitting comfortably next to Karin on the sofa.
The tall figure leaned back to glance over his shoulder, a mild smile passing over his lips, "It's been a while, Ichigo Kurosaki…"
Ichigo ran as fast as he could, trying to escape the possessed beings his friends and family had become with a strike of Tsukishima's sword.
Surely someone else wasn't under this spell.
XOX
Uryu panted deeply, clutching at the wounds that were starting to seep blood at his side, "Kurosaki, come here."
Glancing between Ishida and Tsukishima, Ichigo had to decide swiftly who he could trust as a single moment ad he might lose himself to Tsukishima's spell.
Ginjou had been cut, but if Ishida had escaped the spell perhaps his new ally might as well.
"Ichigo! You idiot! Don't you realize that t he man that cut me is the man standing behind you!"
Turning, Ichigo saw the change in the slick haired man just as his sword pierced right through his chest.
"Now you're full bring belongs to me…."
A darkness unlike any other closed in around him, tightening in around his very soul. The darkness he had faced with Zangetsu was seeping at the edges of his vision, licking at the sword Ginjou had shoved through him.
The blade that had struck him was removed along with his strength. Falling to his knees Ichigo began to shriek out his agony. "GIVE IT BACK TO ME!"
The agony was worse then he ever remembered, as the tears refused to stop.
A second blade entered him from behind, breaking him even further.
Glancing back, Ichigo took in his father and Urahara, both garbed in Shinigami hakama and haori, grim faces adorning them as Isshin adverted his eyes with despair.
"So this is how it is. You guys too!?" he cried, letting the tears fall freely down his face.
"Look again Ichigo," Isshin muttered softly, still not laying eyes on his son, "you should be able to see who's holding that sword now."
Looking harder, Ichigo watched as a woman materialized, her arms wrapped in medical gloves as his blood dripped down her dainty arms. A soft smile sparkled on soft rosy lips and Ichigo took in a slightly changed Rukia.
"I took his powers from him- all of them!" Ginjou cried, standing proudly against the Shinigami. "I have taken his Fullbring and thus his Shinigami powers! There's no conceivable way that just one person's reitsu could return his powers!"
A short snort cut the man off, "You imbecile."
"All of us gave him back his powers so it was no problem at all," Renji interjected from his place among the rebellious captains.
"Ginjou was it? What you stole was merely a small portion of Ichigo's power that had fused to his Fullbring, as you called it," Rukia explained, "the Shinigami power Ichigo has wells up from deep within him. It is impossible for you to take that from him!"
"Ichigo! These fools don't understand that this isn't nearly enough to make you despair! They don't know….the caliber of despair that you have already conquered!"
"Show them Ichigo- Despair cannot ever hope to stop you!"
"Your right..." Ichigo agree, hefting his sword over his shoulder. He brought the blade down sharply to crash just beside where Ginjo once stood.
"HA! Your only hope hasn't given you anything! This isn't nearly enough to kill me Kurosaki!"
"You are an idiot. That wasn't Getsuga.. was just a practice swing."
"GETSUGAAAA TENSHOUUU!"
XOX
A dark haired woman walked the ways of a horrendous carnage, taking in the damage that one Ryoka had done. As she stepped bells tinkled before muting in the pools of blood, her tall geta smearing the crimson across the asphalt as she tentatively stepped around heaped slumps of human flesh. A small smile spread over her ruby lips as she lifted her kimono slightly in order to avoid the gore of one particularly nasty mess.
A small tug paused her from her journey and she snarled briefly. Glancing down at the slime that grabbed at her kimono, the woman snarled, kicking him in the face, her okobo smashing his skull, "I don't have time to deal with the likes of you. I'm only here to meddle in the lives of those innocents you might have rather dragged into dangerous disastrous."
Ginjou persisted with his hold as she began to walk away again, slightly tearing at the fine green fabric. Kneeling down she looked upon the hemorrhaging vessel, "Your blade is cracked and you are no match for me. So how about you lay waste to these ideas of stabbing me when I turn away- I may allow you to live out the few moments you have left."
Understanding that the man would sooner die then allow her to travel on her way, she drew a pick from her hair and jammed it through his skull as she muttered a soft "Hadou 103. Karoshi."
As he fell, the jingle of the hollow bells echoed, carrying on the wind many miles to their intended receiver. Standing to attention, she turned her vision to the moon, the visage soothing her as she once again began on her way.
She rather had more important things to be doing than playing a survivor scout. She was not the clean up crew... With an irritable sigh, she stripped off her kimono as she walked away, tossing it over the still cindering remains of her mercy victim.
Author's notes: I do not own Bleach by Tite Kubo. Respective rights to their owners and all that jazz. Quote at beginning is an Irish Prayer
Karoshi means sudden death in Japanese.
Story begins shortly after the Events of Manga chapter 460ish. Spoilers are present and exist in this story. Otherwise, continues on a different plot line somewhat parallel. This chapters purpose is to catch you up with the manga as well as tie the two stories together. Please use Tite Kubo's manga (his copyright) as a guide for this chapter other wise it will be extremely choppy.
NEW NOTE 7/2014: Just a heads up to any and all new readers: I am updating the story. This started out before the beginning of the Fullbringer Arc. I struggled, I will admit, to try to start at that point. So, I ask that for those of you just joining, please give a few chapters attention before passing judgement. I'm still editing it down again. and we'll simply call the first two chapters "set up plot." They never really were meant to exist, but I felt I had to write them, and now that they are written, can't bring myself to defeat them. Perhaps one day I will change this to something resembling the others, but until then, its what you get. Sorry
With all the love in the world-
Taori