Author's note: Hey there fellow fanfiction authors, this is Kitsune and I have my first Naruto and Bleach crossover story for you. Rest assured that "Breaking the Habit" will be worked on as well as this and I am super excited to hear your feedback on both stories.
So, sit back, relax and enjoy the first chapter of Ameno!
Chapter 1: Soul Bound
"Starting now, you will be the savior. Now go! Until the time I am revived!" Stating these words to his young disciple, Madara Uchiha drew his last breath and succumbed to the pull of the afterlife."
The plan was rather simple, at least in Madara's mind. He would break Obito Uchiha by orchestrating the death of his "beloved" Rin. Then, he would have Obito travel to collect all nine bijuu, manipulating and recruiting whomever he saw fit under his name, though the brat, Nagato, was a requirement as he possessed his Rinnegan. After gathering the Bijuu, Obito would have Nagato revive him via Rinne Tensei and he would become the jinchuuriki to the Jubi. Finally, he would cast his Tsukiyomi on the moon and trap every living being into an eternal genjutsu, bringing peace and happiness to a war torn world.
The first part went off without a hitch. Rin Nohara perished with his disciple witnessing the entire ordeal. Just as he predicted, Obito came back to him after awakening his Mangekyou Sharingan and slaughtering every single mist ninja involved, inquiring about Project Tsuki no Me. He indulged the boy's curiosity and, when all was said and done, Madara detached himself from the Gedo statue that sustained him and died giving Obito his name as an alias for their cause.
The initial part was done, now all Madara had to do was wait in whatever state of afterlife that awaited him upon death until Nagato revived him.
For a while, the legendary shinobi simply floated within a realm of perpetual darkness and wavered between consciousness and unconsciousness. It was rather peaceful, in his opinion.
Then, quite suddenly, a powerful force slammed into him and the next thing he knew, he was falling. The darkness dissolved, revealing what appeared to be a large village, only much more advanced than anything Madara ever remembered seeing. He didn't have time to ponder as his (body? soul?) accelerated downward. If the Uchiha had been anybody else, he would undoubtedly be screaming at the top of his lungs.
His soul drew closer to the Earth below until Madara noticed he was on a collision course with a house, one he managed to see had a sign on the front reading "Kurosaki clinic". On instinct, he braced himself for contact with the roof and relaxed slightly once he passed through it.
His one second of reprieve was followed by an almost numbing shock.
"Tamashi Baindingu!" Rang in his ears as his soul collided with the obliviously sleeping form of an orange haired teenager. In unison, he and the teen cried out in agony as electricity seemed to run throughout their bodies. It stopped as soon as it came, and Madara was only vaguely aware that he was now laying on a cold surface before falling unconscious.
"GOOD MORNING, ICHIGO!"
Brown eyes snapped open and a fist launched out, connecting with a face covered in fuzz. Orange colored brows matching the mess of spikes atop the teen's head furrowed as a scowl settled onto Ichigo's visage.
"Honestly, dad," The 15 year old muttered, running a hand through his hair and removing himself from his bed. He was tripped by an outstretched leg and found himself pinned down by his questionably sane father,
"You'll have to do better than that, son!" The black haired clinic owner and father of three was immediately thrown off of his son by said irritated teenager then dragged out by his leg out of his room, Ichigo slamming the door shut behind him.
A groan escaped from his lips, his shoulders slouching forward in exhaustion before he forced himself to get dressed.
It had been a long ten days for Ichigo, ever since those two shinigami came and took Rukia back to the Soul Society. That itself wouldn't have been too big of a deal, but then he learned that Rukia was going to be executed for giving him the power to protect his loved ones. That made things personal for him.
So, Ichigo was trained by those at the Urahara Shoten in order to get stronger and essentially lead a rescue mission. He discovered that he too had Shinigami powers hidden inside of him and gained his very own zanpakuto, Zangetsu, after almost becoming a hollow. The last five days were dedicated to hours of endless matches between Ichigo and Urahara. The orange haired teen didn't learn anything extravagant, but his strength, durability, and, most importantly, sword fighting experience improved by leaps and bounds.
Yesterday, he was sent home with the instructions to leave his window open at 1:00 am seven days from then, and to enjoy what could be his last days among the living.
Ichigo sighed as he finished dressing himself, feeling an intense headache forming behind his temple. He initially thought it was because of the attack his old man pulled not 10 minutes ago, but then he remembered a strange occurrence that happened last night.
Vaguely, Ichigo recalled hearing someone say, "Tamashi Baindingu," in his ear before a feeling of intense pain hit him. Currents of electricity seemed to run through his veins, and oddly enough, he remembered someone else screaming as he did before he passed out...or woke up.
"Nah, it was just a dream," The 15 year old shook his head and grabbed his school bag for his last day of school. Heading downstairs, Ichigo dodged yet another assault by his eccentric father, slamming the man into a wall for that attempt, then joined his sister, Karin, at the table.
"Good morning, Ichi-nii!" His other sister, Yuzu, greeted him cheerfully as she finished setting up breakfast for the four of them.
"Morning, Yuzu."
"So, are you excited for your last day of school?"
Ichigo shrugged. "Not really. It's just another school day to me." His last school day if things went sour in the Soul Society.
"By the way, did you have a nightmare last night? I thought I heard screaming coming from your room."
There was an awkward pause as Ichigo tried to figure out what to say. "Eh, something like that. It wasn't too bad, so there's nothing to worry about."
"If you say so. It's strange though, I thought I heard someone else screaming with you," Karin added as an afterthought.
Ichigo froze at that. "Are you sure about that, Karin?"
The black haired, eleven year old stared at her brother before sighing and shaking her head. "I guess not. Maybe I was just hearing things."
Ichigo sighed, though a lingering sense of doubt stuck with him. "Alright, I have to get going. See you later Karin, Yuzu, Old man."
"Have a good day, Ichigo!" Yuzu replied.
As per usual, Ichigo walked along his normal route to Karakura High, his mind occupied by what Karin said to him. "Well, whatever it was is probably gone now."
The first part of school went on as it normally would. Keigo greeted him in a manner similar to how his dad would "test" him, prompting Ichigo to knock his friend down with a single blow. He greeted Tatsuki, Mizuiro, Chad and Orihime and noticed that Uryu was absent from school. Before he had time to ponder, class started, and Ichigo slowly fell into a steady routine as classes progressed.
It was near the end of school that things got a little...weird. Ichigo was on his way back to his homeroom for his last class until after summer vacation when an odd feeling washed over him. The feeling was similar to how a body part feels when you "woke it up", like he momentarily walked into an incredibly cold but refreshing area. Though it wasn't much, Ichigo also felt as if he lost some of his energy.
"What the heck was that?"
"What the heck was what?"
The Kurosaki male looked over his shoulder to meet the gaze of his childhood friend, Tatsuki Arisawa, her left arm in a cast and sling.
"It's nothing," Ichigo dismissed her before gesturing to her arm. "So, how's that arm of your doing?"
Tatsuki smirked. "Much better, thank you! To be honest, my pride was damaged more than my arm was since it cost me that last match."
"Well, if it weren't for that injury, we both know you would have won in the finals."
"Oh?" Tatsuki questioned with a cocky grin on her face. "You really think so, strawberry?"
An orange eyebrow twitched on Ichigo's deadpan expression before he turned away. "Tch! Whatever, let's just get to class before we're marked tardy."
Tatsuki's grin only widened and the dark haired girl caught up with her friend. "So, I hear your dad is camping out tonight."
"Yeah, he wants to get us good seats for the fireworks at the festival tomorrow. Will you be coming too?"
"Of course! Orihime had been looking forward to this for a while. Besides, it's going to be my last chance to see you for a while since you're going on that trip."
Ichigo nodded, feeling a little guilty that he had to lie to Tatsuki, but it couldn't be helped. He'd feel even worse if she was hurt because he got her involved in this mess.
The two arrived at their class as the bell rung. Only an hour later did the school bell ring once more, signalling the end of classes until the fall. Ichigo sighed, standing up in his seat as students rushed out of the classroom, or at least he tried to stand. Quite suddenly, a wave of nausea washed over him, causing the orange haired teen to stumble and end up using his desk to support himself.
"Are you okay, Kurosaki?" The concerned voice of his teacher, Mrs. Ochi, reached his ears. "You look a little pale.
Taking a deep breath, Ichigo gathered his bearings and looked his glasses wearing teacher in the eye with a weak smile. "I'm fine, Mrs. Ochi. Just a little tired is all. See yah!" With that said, Ichgo rushed out of the room with one destination in mind.
As soon as he entered the men's room, Ichigo dry heaved over the sink. The sudden sense of nausea was accompanied by the feeling of being drained. "What's wrong with me?" As far as he knew, he wasn't sick and he rarely ever got sick. Even then, he would've experienced some sort of symptoms before hand.
Ichigo groaned then turned on the faucet and splashed his face with water. Rubbing water out of his eyes, he opened them to look at himself in the mirror. A scream reverberated throughout the bathroom when he saw someone standing behind him.
"Gah! What the hell!"
Whirling around, Ichigo came face to face with a stoic man in his twenties with long, unruly black hair and was clad in some sort of red armor he had seen in museums about Feudal Japan. Three things stuck out though.
The first was the pair of seemingly glowing red eyes the man possessed. The second was the fact that the man was nearly transparent. The last was the presence of a broken chain and hexagon plate attached to his chest.
'A spirit?' "Okay, who the hell are you?" Ichigo asleep having recovered from his near heart attack and was now more than a little irritated at being snuck up on.
The man crossed his arms over his chest and assumed a straight backed posture that demanded respect. "Hn, I could ask you the same thing, brat."
"Well, considering the fact that you nearly gave me a heart attack, I believe you're obligated to answer my question."
"I hardly think that you being oblivious to your surroundings automatically means I'm to indulge in your "obligations"," The man stated matter of fairly and drawing a choked sound from Ichigo's throat. "Fine then. I am Madara Uchiha. Now brat, where in the Elemental Nations am I?"
"First off, my name is Ichigo Kurosaki, not 'brat'. Second, I have no idea what you mean by "elemental nations", but you're in Karakura town."
Subtley, Madara seemed to become a little more...tense. "And where is this...Karakura town?"
An orange eyebrow rose, a rather incredulous expression coating his face. "Uh, it's in Japan."
"Japan?"
Ichigo balked. "Are you serious? Did you hit your head when you died or something?" Honestly, Ichigo didn't know whether to be concerned for this guy or not.
"Watch what you say, boy! Are you implying that I'm an amnesiac?" The stoic expression gave way to a slight snarl, and Ichigo could have sworn that this Madara's red eyes were glowing brighter than before.
"I didn't imply anything!" Ichigo gritted his teeth then sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Look, if you come with me, I can get you passed over and we can go about our lives out of each other's hair, afterlife in your case." The fifteen year old walked passed the spirit, stopped, then looked over his shoulder. "Well?"
Madara scowled, but decided to follow the brat for now.
He followed the Orange haired teen passed the school and through town. Madara experienced first hand that not everyone could see him as he quite literally passed through a few by-passers.
Seeing the semi-curious look on Madara's face, Ichigo decided to indulge in the spirit's curiosities. "Normal humans won't be able to see you."
"And why is it that you are able to see me?" Madara once again crossed his arms over his chest.
Ichigo shrugged. "I've been able to see spirits since I was a little kid. Guess I just have greater awareness than most." Not a complete lie, but Ichigo didn't want to open the floodgates for THAT conversation.
Madara narrowed his eyes but refrained from saying anything, opting to simply observe what happened and knew the full truth would be revealed to him in time, whether the boy wanted it to happen or not.
Soon, the two arrived at the Kurosaki clinic, which Madara recognized from his mysterious fall before he blacked out. Ichigo opens the front door and ducked as his father delivered a high flying kick.
Isshin crashed into the ground but sprung back up as if nothing happened. "That was brilliant, my son! Now let's see you counter thi-" Isshin was cut off by the fist Ichigo dug into his face.
"Give me a break, dad!" The teenager scowled fiercely then stalked inside with his bedroom in mind.
Madara had an eye on Isshin then swerved his eyes to Ichigo. "That man is your father?"
"Yeah," Ichigo replied.
"I fail to see the resemblance."
"I suppose that makes me lucky
Yuzu and Karin greeted him, the latter raising an eye brown at Madara's presence but said nothing as Ichigo made his way up to his room.
Ichigo placed his bag down on his desk then opened the door to his closet. "Hey, Kon! Are you in here?"
"Gah!" The mod soul inhabiting stuffed lion jolted up, apparently having been asleep for a while. "Ichigo? What the heck was that for you jerk!"
"And what is that thing?" Madara inquired, his eye brows furrowed together slightly.
"Nothing. Just an annoyance," Ichigo drawled before picking Kon up by the scruff of his neck.
"Annoyance?! I'll show you-" Kon was unable to finish his sentence as the orange haired teen stuck his hand down the stuffed animal's throat and pulled out a small green pill. Wiping it off on his shirt, Ichigo inserted the pill into his mouth and swallowed. In an instant, his soul separated from his body, leaving Kon in his living body and Ichigo clas in his Shinigami outfit, Zangetsu strapped to his back.
Madara's eyes widened. "You are able to separate your soul from your living body? You definitely are an intriguing brat." Then a raven eyebrow raised once Ichigo removed what appeared to be a giant meat cleaver from his back, bandages flying off the weapon as if by magic. Every instinct in Madara's body went on high alert, but he maintained his composure. "Pray tell what you're planning on doing with that."
Ichigo grunted and stepped forward. "Just shut up and pass on already." Swiftly, he pressed the blunt end of Zangetsu to Madara's forehead, pulling away to see a glowing stamp on the spirit's temple.
Ordinarily, the one subjected to Konso would fade away and be guided by a hell butterfly to the Soul society. However, soon after Ichigo attempted to pass Madara on, white lightning crackled from the stamp and shocked not only Madara but Ichigo as well.
Madara knelt down on the floor, clutching his head until the lightning and accompanying pain faded away. Then, he opened his Sharingan pair and glared at the insolent brat with death knives. "What the heck was that, boy?"
Ichigo gritted his teeth, cradling his aching head with his hand and cracking open his left eye. "How the hell should I know? That's never happened during a Konso."
Madara stood and crossed his arms over his chest. "Now what do you propose we do now, brat?"
The orange haired teen sighed, not understanding why the Konso had been rejected so violently. But he knew only one person he could turn to, and Ichigo couldn't help but grimace at the thought. Still, it wasn't like he had much choice.
"Kon, you stay here and keep an eye on my body and family," He ordered, receiving a silent nod from the Mod soul. "As for you," Ichigo addressed to Madara. "Follow me. There's someone who might now what's going on."
It was time to visit the Mad Hatter.
Author's note: That's it for chapter one! I hope you enjoyed it and I hope to hear your thoughts and opinions about it. No flames as they will be used to make s'mores!