Disclaimer: -sighs- Writing disclaimers is tedious. I don't own either Bleach or FMA.
A/N: Despite the title, I'm not sure if Ed's going to become a Soul Reaper/Shinigami in this story. One thing you'll learn about me from my story titles is that I have a thing for bad puns. I grew up watching Pokemon, all their episode titles have puns in them, don't judge! xD Though, do judge my actual story! -hinthint- Originally this was going to be about the FMA cast being enrolled in the Soul Reaper academy, but it turned into something completely different. Anyway. Enjoy!
The first thing he was aware of was darkness. The darkness wrapped around his mind and body like a fine mist, obstructing his vision and clouding his thoughts. The man's eyes were still closed; he was conscious enough to be aware of it, but not enough yet to open them.
The second thing he was aware of was that he was lying on something soft...His mind was still in somewhat of a haze but nevertheless, his awareness was steadily increasing. He soon also realized that when he had lost consciousness, he hadn't landed on something soft.
Someone had taken him here, but for now, the important question was where was here? A soft groan escaped as he tried to shake off the haziness that was fogging up his mind and making his body feel as heavy as lead.
A few rays of light fell on his face through the gaps in the drawn curtains, illuminating the x-shaped scar on the man's tan face. The man groaned again and tried to move away from the bright sunlight, but it succeeded in awakening him nonetheless. His eyelids fluttered open and crimson eyes scanned the area around him. Bookshelves, a desk, a drawer...a bed. The bed he was lying on...he was in someone's--someone much younger than him from the looks of it--room. But whose? And why was he there? Eyes traveled back to the bed he was lying in. His skin tone contrasted vividly with the white sheets of the bed, as well as the bandages wrapped around his chest. Wait, bandages? Was...was he injured? He didn't feel any pain...
His eyes closed again in exhaustion, and his consciousness faded once again into he darkness.
--
He could hear footsteps. Two pairs of them--quiet, as if to keep from waking him up.
"Do you think he's gonna be all right?" one of them asked quietly.
"I dunno. Dad said he would be, probably..."
The voices were clearly female, and though he wasn't nearly conscious enough to so much as estimate their ages, the relatively high pitches suggested that they were young.
As the voices and the footsteps got closer, his strength seemed to return somewhat. This time he definitely felt pain, however. It was only a dull, throbbing ache in his chest, but he felt it nonetheless. Something cold and wet pressed against his forehead, and finally, he had to ask, despite not knowing who would answer or if he'd get an answer at all.
"Wh-Where...where...am I?" the voice sounded dry and cracked--utterly strengthless.
The two girls seemed taken slightly aback. "Oh, he's awake..." one of them commented. The other took the liberty of answering the question. "You're in our brother Ichigo's room. We thought it'd be better to put you up here than drag you into the clinic part of our house the way you were bleeding."
He nodded vaguely, eyes opening again and settling on the two girls. They were about the same height and age, from what he could see, but one had black hair while the other had a golden-blond tint to hers. "Who...are you?" he asked, trying to sit up. The pain suddenly became acute as he attempted to do so, and he quickly lay back down, panting slightly.
"Don't do that, you idiot! You'll open them again!" the black-haired one cried after making sure he hadn't done any damage to himself, "Anyway, I'm Karin Kurosaki, and that's is my sister, Yuzu."
Before he could say any more, the other piped in with her two cents. "Oh! Ichigo told us to tell him when he woke up!" With that, the one with the lighter hair color scurried out of the room. The Ishbalan barely had enough time to think that those were very odd names when the girl walked back in, a much taller, orange-haired man following behind her.
"Glad to see you're finally awake. You had us worried for a while last night..."
The scarred man was still trying to figure out what was going on. "Where am I?" he repeated to Ichigo.
"Our house--"
"No, I mean where...?"
"Karakura Town; where the hell else would you be?"
Scar's eyes widened in fear. When had he left Central?! He remembered now; the last thing he saw before passing out was the front door of a building with strange looking symbols on it. How had he gotten there? Was he the only one in Central this had happened to? "What...country is that in?" He still clung to some hope that he was still in Amestris.
The orange-haired man gave him an odd look. Japan was an island nation (well, a series of islands, anyway)--how could he have any confusion on the matter? The teenager decided not to put too much thought into the matter.
"Should've asked Dad if he had a concussion or something..." he mused. Then to Scar, "Japan, obviously. Where did you think you were?"
The injured man said nothing for several long moments. "H-how? This isn't--it isn't Amestris?!"
"The hell is that? I don't know what you're talking about." Sure, Ichigo might not have been the best at remembering names or faces, but he was certain that he had never heard of such a country in his life.
As the Ishbalan stared at him, dumbstruck, for several more moments, Ichigo scowled at him. "You sure you're feeling all right, old man? This is Japan...we're on an island. I'm not really sure how you could confuse it with another country..."
The 'old man' remark was completely passed over in the frightened man's mind, and he instinctively sat up, ignoring the pain, and started to get up and stagger towards the door. It was force of habit that drove him to attempt to leave; generally it had always been a bad idea to stay in one place for too long--it made it easy to locate him.
"You idiot, stop! You're gonna open up all your goddamned wounds!" he shouted as he followed the fool.
Scar made it to the first step on the stairway before his knees buckled, and he fell, tumbling down the flight of stairs.
"Damn you, idiot," Ichigo growled under his breath as he hurried down the stairs after the wounded man. This was going to be a long day...