Strawberry Protector
Chapter 1: The Day It All Began
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
Summary: They met on a day filled with tragedy when he was young. He had lost something precious that day but gained a powerful protector and loyal friend. But time, Shinigami, Visoreds, and traitors would stretch their friendship to the limit. Follow their journey from grieving boy and rejected hollow to Substitute Shinigami and Vasto Lorde.
The sky was shrouded in black clouds and rain was coming down fast and furious on the day he arrived in town. In fact, it appeared as if it had been raining that relentlessly for a number of days now. The river that ran nearby had long overflown beyond its banks. Why would his target come to such a miserable looking place? Whatever, doesn't matter. All he had to do was locate the guy and find out what he came here to learn in the first place. Now, where...
A cry from nearby drew his attention to a young boy with bright orange hair. The child was running towards the rushing river. But why would the kid do that? He looked over to the flooded river where the child had set his gaze. Near the raging river stood what appeared to be a young girl. No, wait... Upon taking a closer look he could see a form just behind the girl. It was Grand Fisher... His target.
Didn't Grand Fisher come here for some kind of mission? Maybe the deadly hollow wanted a snack before he got started. Either way, this boy was clearly running right into Grand Fisher's trap. He felt bad for the kid. But he wasn't about to tango with someone like Grand Fisher, he was in no way strong enough to even think about it.
Another, though older, yell once again drew his eyes back towards the road that the boy had come from. It was a young woman and she was calling out to the child. Yelling for him to come back, but the boy didn't listen.
The child had reached Grand Fisher's lure by this point. The boy went to grab what he seemed to think was a girl in trouble, but she vanished the moment his hand came near. Then he lost his footing and started to fall towards the river. Towards Grand Fisher...
A few different things happened all at once at that point. The woman grabbed the boy just as a blinding flash of lightning lit up the sky and a deafening roar of thunder filled the ears of everyone present.
And Grand Fisher made his move...
Even though it was mere moments, it felt like hours before he could see again. And once he could, he quickly noticed that Grand Fisher was gone. The woman was now on the ground in a slowly growing pool of blood. The boy lay underneath her, wrapped up within her arms. It was plainly obvious that the woman was dead. She had given her life to protect one small child. He'd never seen anything like this before. Then again, he had never left the sand filled lands of Hueco Mundo up till now.
He should have been going after Grant Fisher, he might still be able to catch up with the hollow. But he could not take his eyes off the gruesome sight before him, the scene replaying within his mind. A bit of movement drew his eyes to the boy; it seemed the child was finally starting to react to the situation. The boy pulled himself out from underneath the woman and started calling to her and when that didn't work he started trying to shake her. It was obvious to the observer that the kid had yet to comprehend that she was gone.
The observer began to move towards the boy, he was curious. Curious as to why this very woman would sacrifice her very life for this child. Was there something special about him? Or did she just care for him that much? And if so, what was it like to have someone care for you that much? Or was it something else entirely? Perhaps if he got to know this boy he would find the answers to these questions.
He approached quietly, not wanting to startle the boy and scare him off. But when he was just a few feet away, he accidentally kicked a rock. Despite the sound caused by the heavy rain pouring down on them, the boy still heard. The child's head snapped up and around to look at him, the boy's eyes widened.
The observer paused, taking that moment to truly look the boy over. Age wise, the child looked to be about eight or nine. He had short spiky orange hair that could stand out in any crowd. If not for the water running down his face, the tears he cried from those sad brown eyes would have been much more apparent. But at that moment, those eyes were staring at the being before him.
The boy had been told by his mother that there was no such things as monsters under the bed or in the closet. But there was certainly a monster standing before him and his mother was no longer there to chase away the scary things. The monster was very lizardlike in appearance, covered in bone white skin with red markings running along its body. Upon its face was a bone white mask with red streaks on the upper left side. From behind its mask running down its back was a wild mane of white hair. It was no bigger than a large dog but despite that it was still a fearsome sight.
The boy stared in stunned silence, he couldn't think, not after everything that happened. He had lost his mother and now this creature was standing before him. Finally, the beast started to move, but the boy found he could not, fear had taken hold. The monster held out a single clawed hand with the palm up as it crouched down low to the ground, as if it was trying to seem less threatening. Finally, it opened its mouth and started to speak in a strange echo like voice. "Don't be afraid kid. I won't hurt ya..." Once the creature was close enough to the boy, it gently placed it's hand to the side of the boy's face.
The child finally met the gaze of the scary monster, but all he saw within the depths of those yellow and black eyes was kindness, a kindness that reminded him of his mother. Suddenly the creature wasn't so scary anymore; released from his paralyzed state the boy clung to the strange being and began crying anew. In response, the creature gently wrapped his arms around the boy and began to purr in what he hoped to be a comforting way. "There, there... It's all right..." He didn't know what to say to help comfort the boy. This was, after all, a new experience for him. So instead of speaking, he simply held the child close and continued to purr gently.
After a long moment of silence the boy finally spoke. "Mom is gone, isn't she?" As the child asked this he looked up to the creature and it silently nodded in reply. The boy stayed quiet for a few minutes after that. What he said next surprised and angered the fearsome looking being. "It's my fault mom is gone..."
A slight growl seeped out of the creature as he smacked the ground lightly with his tail producing a small thud, startling the child a bit. "Don't ya ever say somethin' like that! Because it's not true! Ya did nothin' wrong..." His golden yellow eyes fixed upon the form of the deceased mother. "Someone else was behind this..." He returned his gaze to the boy. "And one day we'll make him pay, I promise..." The child seemed to get some comfort from those words. 'What am I thinkin'... Me defeat Grand Fisher? HA! That's a laugh...' He couldn't help but think to himself, he wasn't even sure why he made that promise. 'I'd have ta get a hell of a lot stronger if I'm gonna even have half a chance against a hollow like him. Let alone, actually takin' him down!' He focused upon the child that was still within his grip. He could easily feel that the boy had a high amount of spiritual energy, VERY HIGH. 'Maybe with the right trainin'... Just maybe...'
The boy shivered slightly within his grip while muttering. "I'm cold..." He realized at that moment that the kid was soaked from head to toe. And the fierce wind and rain that whipped around them wasn't helping matters any.
"Let's get ya home then. I'm sure yer dad is worried." He finally released the child from his grip, then pulled back to look at his face better. "So which way is yer home?" The boy pointed with his hand in a certain direction, it seemed like the kid was reverting back to being silent. "What's yer name?" He asked gently as he nudged the child in the direction indicated, while beginning to walk himself.
"Ichigo." Was the only response the orange haired child gave him. But the boy named Ichigo did grab the creature's hand with his own. It was obvious the kid desired the touch of another during this hard time.
"Well then Ichigo, let's get ya some place warm and dry." He said as he gently gripped the small hand within his own.
"You won't leave me will you?" The question startled him, he just met the kid and yet Ichigo was already afraid of him leaving.
"Nah... I ain't goin' anywhere." Ichigo smiled ever so slightly at this.'Not like I have anywhere ta go...'He thought in silence, in reality, the lizardlike creature had no home. But he wasn't about to tell the kid that. Besides he didn't want to go anywhere, he wanted to know more about the boy named Ichigo. Little did he know that he'd be in for one crazy ride...
Made some minor changes mostly fixing some errors I saw and bolding Shiro's speech and thoughts. I've come to prefer his words as such. Until next time! R&R please!