AN: Well, hello again, I'm glad to see that everyone took the news very well. One of you guys even agreed with some of my reasoning, which made more me much more confident in this choice. Anyways, for the new readers, this is technically my second story. I use the term technically due to the fact that I have an abandoned story that is really just a prior version to this story. Anyways, I will try my best to deliver longer and better written chapters this time. Also, if any of you have any questions or comments about the story somewhere down the line, please either leave them as a review or PM me. I will answer as many as I can in an opening portion of each chapter or PMs depending on how you go about delivering these comments/questions. Hope you all enjoy!
The sun shined brightly as his eyes opened. The male sat up and ran his fingers through his unruly orange hair before actually getting out of his bed. He is Ichigo Kurosaki, a 17 year old Huntsman in training. He was tall with a rather well built, lanky figure, though none of these were his most notable features nor was it his brown eyes. The thing that people immediately took note of was his bright orange hair and rather deep scowl. The combination of these two features on top of all the fights he gotten into since he was a kid caused many to be somewhat frightened by him. Being called a delinquent by parents and teachers didn't help with dismissing his reputation. Despite this, he still managed to make friends throughout his childhood. However, none of this really matters. Today was a rather important day for him and his past no longer will matter because today was the day he began his journey to Vale.
Ichigo planned to attend Beacon Academy, one of the top Huntsman Academies throughout the four Kingdoms. His desire for this occupation came from his childhood; his mother had died protecting him from Grimm during a walk through the forest with her and his siblings. After the initial sadness faded, he felt a fire in his heart. He wanted to make sure no one would have to go through the same experience he had. That feeling of powerlessness was something he never wanted to feel again nor did he want anyone else to feel it. Ichigo's desire to protect played a large roll in his less than favorable reputation as a child. Often causing him to fight whenever he saw someone praying on the weak.
This fire was burning stronger than ever now, it made him feel like he could take on the world. Now, at this point, he had already went through most of his preparations. His family made some light hearted banter as they ate breakfast. Despite this happy mood, he could tell that they weren't that cheerful. The main reason he could tell this was due to the lack of a morning ritual that Isshin, his father, had started where he would launch a surprise attack at his barely awake son. It was tiresome for Ichigo but, it felt odd for his day to start differently. Ichigo quickly finished and took his plate to the sink.
"I'm gonna go pack the rest of my stuff. I'll be back down in a few minutes." Each member of his family seemed to react a bit differently. Isshin smiled and wiped away some tears in his eyes, otherwise, he'd likely start crying like an obnoxious man child. Yuzu and Karin, his younger sisters, reacted like polar opposites, similar to their own appearances. Yuzu smiled brightly while Karin seemed to glare at him slightly. It didn't surprise him, Ichigo had promised her that he would help her with combat skills. Karin wanted to be a Huntress and seemed to be dead set on it. This led to Isshin and Ichigo helping her with her goal and with the sudden news of Ichigo's departure, she was left in a rather sour mood. However, there was much he could do about that except apologize and hope that would help.
It didn't take him too long to gather the rest of his things, he just needed to finish packing some clothes and some other things. There were two final things he needed, one being important to his journey and the other being completely sentimental. Ichigo opened a small white box and took out a small silver chain with a cross on it. It was a symbol from the now extinct Quincy faction and it was the final gift his mother had given to him two days before her death. He smiled as he looked at it for a moment before placing it within his pocket. He took a moment before walking over to his closet and grabbing his final item, his weapon.
Zangetsu, a massive blade resembling a khyber knife with no tsuba and cloth wrapped around the lower portion of the blade's tang. He looked at it for a moment, remembering when he first received the blade. At the time, it was as tall as he was which made it rather hard for him to swing at first. Now, after all these years, it was as light as a feather to him. Ichigo lifted the blade and rested it upon his shoulder as he grabbed the rather large bag he packed before exiting his room.
He made his way downstairs only to find Yuzu shoving some things into a bag and his father sobbing grossly in front of the rather large shrine he made of Ichigo's mother. Ichigo sighed and walked towards his father before pushing him over with his foot.
"Can you save that for after I leave? Also, when the hell are you gonna take this stupid thing down? All you do is whine in front of it." Isshin began to collect himself as Ichigo headed towards the door. He opened the door and looked behind him only to see his father and two sisters standing in front of him.
"We'll walk you to the edge of town," he nodded as he exited his home with his family following closely behind. It was somewhat early in the morning still, leaving the streets somewhat barren for the most part. It didn't take long for the four to arrive at the edge of the town. There they found a decently large group of people. Ichigo quickly recognized them as his friends and spotted among them two people that were accompanying him on his journey.
"Ichigo!" the source of the voice was soon on the ground due to Ichigo smashing his fist against the male's head.
"You really need to stop doing that Keigo," the slim brown haired teen was helped to his feet by Mizuiro, a short male with medium length black hair.
"That was cruel Ichigo," Keigo spoke in a bit of a whiny voice as he rubbed the top of his head.A much taller figure walked by the pair and approached Ichigo, he smiled slightly as he looked towards him.
"Hope you guys have a safe trip."
"Will do, make sure Keigo doesn't get too lonely while we're gone alright Chad?" The taller of the two nodded in agreement. Before either of them could speak, some commotion could be heard as a pair of females approached. Both were of average height, One of them had a rather gifted build and long orange hair with the other having a leaner athletic build and long, slightly spiked black hair.
"What was that about?" Ichigo looked at the two with a confused expression. The raven haired girl sighed deeply.
"Mizuiro was trying to get handsy, she'll be fine but, we need to get going."
"You sure she's alright Tatsuki? You might've overdone it a bit…"
"Orihime, she'll be fine, we need to get going if we're going to make the airship."
"Before you all go, here!" Yuzu came forward with a bag, practically shoving it into Ichigo's hands.
"I heard the trip there would take a little while, so, I've been making some meals on the side for you guys." Ichigo smiled at her as he took the bag. He patted her head and began to walk over towards Karin.
"Hey Karin, I'm sorry we couldn't train like I promised. I'll make it up to when I have a chance to visit."
"Alright, next time I see you, I'm givin' ya a beating." He nodded and turned away from her, walking back over to Orihime and Tatsuki. The trio began to walk, turning to wave at the friends and family they were leaving.
"You know, I didn't see Uryu there when we left."
"I heard that he had something important today." The three had been walking for close to an hour now and had been making some casual conversation. The subject matters ranged from basic observations to each's expectations of what Beacon and Vale would be like. Of course, each had some different ideas. Orihime being excited to see what kind of restaurants would be in Vale while Ichigo and Tatsuki were mostly concerned on what Beacon would look like. Some of their conversations would have nothing to do with what they were doing as well. This was to be expected however, seeing as their trip would take a good amount of time.
Karakura Town was located in the outer region of Anima, which meant that they would walking for quite awhile. To get to Vale, they would need to travel through the forests surrounding their hometown. Afterwards, they would travel towards the edge of the continent where they would be picked up by airship and be flown to Beacon. The trip alone would take a few days if that was all there was to it. However, the three would also have to deal the potential threat of attacks by the Grimm as well as the bandits that love to call these parts their home. Taking all of this into account, they could possibly be traveling for about a week or so.
They of course knew about the potential dangers that they would encounter. In an attempt to keep themselves from suffering any major setbacks due to any surprises a plan was made. Ichigo and Tatsuki would not be carrying anything that would hinder them from moving. This was because these two were the best fighters out of the three and this allowed them to be ready for battle whenever. Orihime carried a bit more than the other two, nothing that would hinder her terribly, just a bag or two that they couldn't sling over their shoulders. Though, so far they had not encountered anything.
"It's starting to get dark, think we should look for a place to set up for the night?"
"That'd probably be the best thing to do right now. We'll need the rest for tomorrow." Ichigo nodded in agreement to Tatsuki's statement.
"I think I see a good spot," Orihime said as she pointed over to a somewhat secluded area of forest.
"Let's check it out then," Ichigo walked over towards the area, inspecting it as he came closer. It was definitely big enough for the three of them to sleep. The area also seemed to be hidden for the most part, which made decently safe.
"Damn, good eye Orihime. We just got to clear out some of these dead branches here and we'll be good to go."
"You start getting everything ready. Ichigo and I will clear this out, alright?" Orihime nodded as she set one of her bags down on the ground and began to dig around in it. Ichigo and Tatsuki had began to throw the broken and dead branches into a pile, deciding to keep them in case they decided to make a fire. These tasks only took the three of them about ten minutes in total with an additional minute or two to actually finish setting everything up to sleep. The trio ate one of the meals that Yuzu had prepared in advance before turning in for the night.
The trio awoken at around 6:00 A.M. with the sun having just risen. They went about the normal morning routine for the most part. They had eaten another one of Yuzu's meals, wanting to save a bit of time by not cooking. It didn't take them long to clean up the area they spent the night in, simply only need to pack up their sleeping bags. Once this was done, the three set out once again.
The group moved at a decent pace as they moved through the forest. Ichigo and Tatsuki seemed to be a bit on edge, likely wanting to be prepared for the worst. On the other hand, Orihime was the opposite. While, she did make sure to keep an eye for any threats, she also made it a point to admire the scenery around her. Though, this was not her fault, the forests around Anima tend to be rather vibrant. Large trees and bright green leaves accompanied by the warm rays of the bright sun would draw the attention of most. She also had been watching the smaller woodland creatures run about, making the whole area seem even more like a scene out of a book.
Ichigo sighed as he glanced around the area. All this walking had him bored to death. The scenery didn't help much either, while he did appreciate it Ichigo couldn't really occupy himself with it. He would rather play it safe and power through the boredom, after all being bored is much more welcomed than being jumped by a random pack of Beowolves. He decided to check in with the other two to see if they spotted anything. Though, this applied mostly to Orihime; he knew Tatsuki would make it abundantly clear when she spotted something. While she wouldn't ignore, Orihime had a mild habit of distracting herself and that caused Ichigo to slightly worry.
"You two notice anything strange?" Apparently Tatsuki had a similar idea to Ichigo, saying almost the exact same thing he was about to ask.
"Nope, how about you Orihime?" He turned his head to look at her. She was glancing at some trees though, she noticed Ichigo look over towards her after calling her. This in turn caused her to turn her attention to him before answering his question,
"Only thing I've seen recently was some small animals." Tatsuki shrugged in response to this.
"Guess we're getting luck toda-"
"Don't finish that sentence!" Ichigo and Tatsuki both stared at Orihime. The two were extremely confused however, Ichigo was the first to question this sudden outburst.
"What was that about?"
"If she says that, she'll jinx it."
"Are you kidding me? Jinx it?" Tatsuki quickly put a hand to her face and sighed deeply.
"Should've known...Whatever, let's not linger on it too much then." An extremely awkward silence then washed over the group. It was a tad uncomfortable, but it was better than bickering about the validity of jinxes and other matters of that nature. They all went back to what they were doing before with Ichigo and Tatsuki being a bit on edge and Orihime admiring the nature around her. It was quite silly, thinking that a simple sentence would ruin their good luck thus far.
And of course, as tradition would have it, a single sentence did in fact ruin this luck. This was made apparent by a large amount of rustling with the dense woods followed by the sound of growling and glowing red eyes glaring at the trio. Ichigo's expression deadpanned as he reached for Zangetsu, watching as five Beowolves emerged from the forest.
"You're fucking kiddin' me right?"
"Of course this would happen." Tatsuki once again sighed before putting her hands up. As she did this, the fingerless gloves she wore quickly expanded into gauntlets. Seeing this scene before her, Orihime placed a finger against the blue flower like hairpin she wore. The Beowolves circled around them for a few moments before making the first move.
A Beowolf leaped towards Ichigo, raising its large claws above its head as it prepared to strike. However, its attack was instead blocked by a golden triangular barrier. Using this chance, Ichigo moved to the side and attack the Grimm. The wrapping around Zangetsu's blade was quickly removed from the blade as he swung it upwards at the beast. Thankfully, the strike was timed well enough to keep the Grimm from being able to react which allowed Ichigo's blade to tear through its stomach and reduce the beast to nothing but a pile of dissolving black matter.
The other four of the Beowolves quickly followed, with two of them attempting the same maneuver their fallen comrade had. One of the two who leaped was blocked by the same golden barrier, the other was launched into the base of a tree by Tatsuki's foot. The two other Grimm didn't wait, one of them seeing the source of the barrier being Orihime and quickly darting towards her. The other lunged at Tatsuki in an attempt to keep her from defending her friend. However, Ichigo's opponent was the one blocked by the Santen Kesshun conjured by his teammate. This mistake would prove to be fatal for the attacking Beowolf.
"Getsuga Tenshō!" Within the blink of an eye, a blue crescent of Aura was thrown towards the beast, tearing its body apart in mere seconds. The Grimm that was launched into a tree had now recovered from the blow and sprinted at Ichigo with its claws raised above its head.
"Koten Zanshun, I reject!" The Grimm was stopped dead in its tracks as a smaller version of the golden barrier from before sliced through its skull. Seeing as Orihime's barrier was now down, the Beowolf from moments ago moved towards the two. However, it was quickly sent back by a swift horizontal blow from Zangetsu. The Grimm landed at Tatsuki's feet as she finished off one of the two remaining beasts with an axe kick. As the Beowolf rose to its feet, Tatsuki lunged forward and delivered a devastating palm strike to its head before following up with a round house kick that would nearly take its head off.
Ichigo rested his weapon on his shoulder and began to walk towards Tatsuki. He looked around at the dissolving Grimm that were scattered about the area now.
"Guess our luck wasn't as good as we thought."
"Tell me about it." Orihime had walked over to the two of them by now.
"Are you guys alright?"
"We're fine, nothing our Auras couldn't handle." Tatsuki walked forward, stretching her arms above her head as she did.
"I hope we run into a town with an inn or something soon. Really would love to be in a bed again."
"I feel ya, my back's a bit stiff from last night." Ichigo and Tatsuki both had began to walk forward with Orihime walking closely behind them. They made some casual banter about their feelings towards their journey thus far. And from their recent victory, Beacon felt but mere steps away. Though this delusion would quickly fade away as they continued onwards, the distance between their destination and where they were making itself well known.
AN: Alright, that's the first chapter done! I wanted to make this longer initially but, unfortunately I overestimated how much time I would have to work on this. As for the starting point in the story, I decide to show a bit of Ichigo, Tatsuki, and Orihime's journey from Karakura Town to the airship's pick up spot in Anima. I don't remember anything being said in the show about where the Beacon students were picked up by the airship so, I'm just pulling that out of thin air for this. Also, I want to apologize just in case the writing is a bit off in certain parts. I have to readjust myself to writing like this again, so just bare with me. I hope that you guys at least enjoyed this chapter a bit. I will be working to make this story better than the original version(hopefully). Anyways, I will see all of you in the next chapter, see ya then!