A Reaper of Time
Bleach and all related characters belong to Tite Kubo.
It had been two months since Ichigo Kurosaki had been given the powers of a Shinigami, thanks to one Rukia Kuchiki. He had become a Subsitute Shinigami, and in that time had run into some interesting things. He had met Uryu Ishida, the last of a race known as the Quincy who hates Shinigami, his friends Chad and Orihime had gained spiritual powers of their own. In all that time, Ichigo for the first time in a long while felt happy. Sure he was missing a little school and somewhat alienating the rest of his friends that didn't know about his Shinigami activities, but he had never felt better. The orange haired Reaper almost felt that he was born to do this. However all good things must come to an end. It turned out that when Rukia gave Ichigo her powers, she had broken the law of the Shinigami. Two powerful Shinigami came to take her away. Ichigo put up a good fight to be sure, but their skill and power was greater and the teen was defeated as he had his powers taken. Ichigo could only watch shocked from his grounded position, as Rukia Kuchiki, a person who he trusted, protected and cared for, turned her small back on him with out so much as a second thought towards him or his blooded broken form.
And it hurt him, it hurt him deep, she had seen parts of his life no one outside of his family had, and she was leaving him, with two deep holes in-bedded with in his body and soul, and she wasn't even going to say goodbye to him he released as he attempted to rise his drenched body from the cold red road. He didn't want her to leave, not with those people or anyone else for that matter. He just had to reach out and grab the shell that encased her, pull her back to him and away from the gate of golden light that burned his hazel eyes, he almost had her almost, just a little more and she would be herself.I chigo never saw the petite foot come crashing down on his outstretched hand. But he deferentially knew, that she had broken something at that moment. He didn't need to hear the sicking crunch to know this, no he had felt it the pain that had raced up his body, and not just from his now disfigured hand.
"Rukia" Ichigo softly begged at the now somewhat blurry figure of his friend, hoping to get a response. He felt more than saw her reply, and this time nothing could stop the scream of pain as Rukia's shoe, twisted as she did to look down at him. He knew instantly that she was crying, his sister Yuzu cried enough for him to recognise the symptoms even without his eyesight, he could sense them, he didn't know how but he just could. Her voice merely echoed that thought.
"Don't move, don't try to follow me." Her words while harsh, spoke of a deep hidden pain.
"Conserve your energy and try to linger in this world a little longer." She continued, tears falling from her eyes. And with that she turned, carefully removing her foot from his crippled hand as she did so and slowly began her walk towards the door, the door that shone with warmth and a continued light.
"Rukia" Ichigo yet again begged, only for his face to hit the ground bellow, and a further part of himself smash.
"Your one stubborn idiot you know that right?" Ichigo growled into the tarmac as he recognised the voice, it was the red head, Renji Abarai.
"Stop making so much noise and die quietly." The ponytailed man said.
"Like I'll die yet!" Ichigo responded in with a snort.
"Really? Because looking at the roads change of colour you only have half an hour left." The dark haired one said, clearly not caring for the boy's condition.
"You may yet live, so be quite now." Rukia said, trying to comfort the orange haired teen if just a little though she kept her voice cold. Ichigo winced at her cold dead tone, it sounded so much like her brother's.
"Live your life and survive. Don't follow me, because if you do...I'll never forgive you." And with that said Rukia left through the blinding portal, with her two comrades, to face her fate in the other-world. The gate slowly shut, taking Rukia to the other side away from him, and with it a little bit of himself. Ichigo then passed out, but stirred slightly as someone walked up to him. He looked up and saw one Kisuke Urahara, his trademark green and white hat giving him away.
"I'm so sorry. I never wanted this for you." Where the last words the teen heard before completely losing consciousness.
Ichigo woke up, his head feeling like it had been used for a drum. He looked around and saw that he was in one of the rooms of Urahara's shop. His entire body felt like it had been trampled by an elephant, so getting up was out of the question for now.
"How long are you going to torture yourself Kisuke? You did the right thing." A man's voice said from behind the paper door of the room. Ichigo turned his head and saw the silhouette of a cat and what he could only guess to be Urahara.
"I used to think that, but not now. He still became a Shinigami, and now he's in too deep." The shop owner said, causing Ichigo to wonder what in the world he was talking about, though he held the sinking suspicion it was about him.
"I wanted him to grow up, live a good life, the kind I couldn't give him. I wanted him to have a normal life Yoruichi. You can't imagine how much it hurt when he first came into the shop with Rukia." Kisuke said with a grief filled voice, a tone that Ichigo thought the man was incapable of.
"You gave him a family, a roof over his head, and love, something that some fathers don't do." The cat said casually. However these words sent Ichigo's entire world into a state of chaos. Before he knew what he was doing the teen shouted,
"WHAT?" This caused Kisuke to open the door quickly, only to see the shocked expression of Ichigo.
"I take it you heard that?" The cat said before Ichigo passed out, this time from shock instead of pain.
"I didn't want him to know." Kisuke said as he looked down at the sleeping form of his son.
"I'm sorry, I thought he was still asleep. You could modify his memory, after all he's not a Shinigami right now." Yoruichi said, but the shopkeeper's glare quieted the cat. Kisuke sighed and said,
"What's done is done. Besides, you and I both know he'll be a Shinigami again soon enough and the modified memories would break." Kisuke then went over and to his son and rolled him over as he covered him back up.
"I know you'll want to rescue her, just be careful."
Ichigo awoke yet again. He remembered what Kisuke had told him, but that did little to quell the rage he still felt. He got up and saw a t-shirt and a pair of pants across a chair and put them on. He then headed outside, it was late afternoon by now, and walked. He kept walking until he came across his home. Normally, despite the assurance of a surprise attack from the man he had thought his father, he would be relieved to see the place. He walked over to a window and saw Yuzu getting ready to prepare dinner, Karin watching TV, and his father writing something on his desk.
"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home." Ichigo heard a voice say from next to him. Jumping back, though wincing due to his injuries, Ichigo managed to get in a fighting stance. He looked to see a man, just a few inches taller than him, with long black hair that wore a black coat, a red t-shirt, black jeans and boots. His face was obscured by a black and grey stripped scarf, which was an odd fashion choice given the time of the year.
"Oh calm down kid. Being jumpy never helped anyone." The man said, his voice with slight humor in it. He reached into his coat and pulled out a small brown bag.
"Here, have a jelly baby, it'll calm your nerves." The man said as he offered a red human shaped gummy candy to the teen.
"A what?" Ichigo asked as he took it, examining the foreign confectionery.
"It's like a gummy bear, only if you ask me these are a lot better." The black haired man said as Ichigo ate the candy.
"Hey that's pretty good, got any more of those." The teen said, only to find the man walking down the street. Despite himself Ichigo ran after the man.
"Hey! What were you doing just standing outside my house!" Ichigo said as he ran up to the darkly dressed stranger.
"A better question is why were you just standing outside your house." The man said as he continued walking.
"I... I just found out that... I was adopted." Ichigo said, knowing not to go into the specifics of what lead him to standing outside his own house like a stalker. For a reason unknown to the teen he felt like he knew this man all of his life.
"And you feel all weird about going home to face the only family you've known all your life right?" The stranger said casually as they continued walking.
"Yeah, how'd you..."
"Been there done that kid. Now I don't give advice, but if I did I'd tell you not to tell them you know." The man said, causing Ichigo to stop dead in his tracks.
"Not tell them?!" Ichigo almost yelled.
"Yeah, don't tell them. If this was just between you or your adopted parents it'd be one thing, but you got sisters and one of them doesn't look like she'd take this well." The man said as they reached an old phone booth. The man began to open the door to it, as Ichigo turned to grab him.
"How do you know I've got sisters?" Ichigo nearly snarled, his protective instincts taking hold, only to be kicked hard in the gut and fall over.
"Who are you?" Ichigo said breathlessly. The man simply replied,
"You can call me the Shaman." Ichigo heard what sound like an unearthly warp sound and as he looked up the phone booth was gone. Gasping in surprise, Ichigo passed out, unable to comprehend what just happened.
Ichigo awoke back in the room he had been in. He wondered if that had been a dream.
"Oh Ichigo-chan, you're up! I hope you enjoyed your walk." Kisuke said cheerfully as he entered the room, dashing Ichigo's hopes of his encounters being a dream. However Ichigo did feel a change. His wounds had all been healed! Kisuke noticed the look of realization on Ichigo's face and smiled.
"Ah yes, you've awoke your ability to regenerate." The shopkeeper said.
"Regenerate?"
"Yes, I made you with the ability to heal very fast. I even gave you the ability to completely rewrite your genetic code to heal your wounds if need be, isn't that great?" Kisuke said, feeling proud of himself.
"And what would that do exactly?" Ichigo asked, dreading the answer.
"Well, theoretically it would give you what would basically be a brand new body. It would also probably rearrange parts of your personality. You'd still be you of course, just different parts you would be brought to the forefront." Kisuke answered in as he then heard a thump. Ichigo had passed out yet again.
Ichigo awoke yet again. He looked over to see Kisuke still sitting across from him.
"You ever gonna get any sleep?" Ichigo asked, noticing that his wounds still hurt like crazy.
"I've got plenty of time Ichi-chan." Kisuke said, earning a glare from his son at the nickname.
"Sorry. I used to call you that, before I gave you to Isshin." Kisuke said as he chuckled a bit.
"Yeah fine, just don't make a habit out of it. By the way, you got anything to help with this throbbing? It feels like my head is gonna explode." Ichigo said, which caused his father to look at him with a sad glance.
"What is it?" Ichigo asked as he sat up.
"You remember when I said you could completely rewrite your genetic code to heal your wounds? Well that's not a voluntary thing. It's something your body does naturally." The shopkeeper said as he felt a few tears forming.
"Yeah, new face, and new personality. So what?" Ichigo said as he tried to figure out what Kisuke meant.
"Think about that for a second. New face and a new personality. You won't be you anymore. You'll have the same memories, but you'll never be the same again." Kisuke said, nearly choking up. Ichigo eyed him warily, this was extremely out of character for the usually jovial man.
"Why are you telling me this... Wait... No." Ichigo said as realization struck.
"Yes. I'm afraid so. I tried my best to help, but you really took a beating son. The reason your body still hurts so much is that it's failing, it's also why you keep passing out. That little walk you took earlier didn't help either." Kisuke said as he stood up, walking over to Ichigo.
Ichigo stood up and looked at his bandaged body in the mirror.
"All I've done. Fighting all those Hollows, helping everyone I could. I could have done so much more." Ichigo said as he glared at his reflection.
"SO MUCH MORE!" He yelled in anger as he leaned on the wall, still staring at himself.
"But this is the reward I get..."
After a minute, a dead silent minute, which felt like an eternity for Kisuke the silence was broken.
"AND IT'S NOT FAIR!" Ichigo yelled as he smashed the mirror with his bandaged hand. He then looked to see his skin was glowing yellow.
"It's time Ichi-chan. I'm sorry." Kisuke said as he gave his son a quick hug. Ichigo looked back at his father and in his brown eyes was a look that caused Kisuke's heart to ache. A look that simply said one thing.
"I don't want to go." Ichigo said, looking to Kisuke who had tears in his eyes as his son was bathed in a flash of brilliant light.
It was dusk as Orihime Inou was walking down the street, heading to her apartment. As she walked, she passed the old Kurosaki Clinic and sighed. It had been five years since Ichigo Kurosaki, one of her closest friends and secret crush, had vanished. His family had moved from Karakura Town after two years of searching for him. Orihime had never asked why, but assumed it was because the place had too many memories for them. As she continued on her way home, she heard a massive roar. She looked to see a Hollow charging at her. She hadn't worn her hair-pins that day so she had no way to defend herself. As was about to run, the Hollow dissolved before her.
"You should really take proper precautions if you're going to be wandering around alone. People with high reiatsu are always a prime target for Hollows." A calm voice said from behind the rather busty young woman. Orihime jumped a little and turned to see a man behind her.
He looked like a fairly young man, possibly about five or six years older than her. His hair was a dull grey, the same color as his eyes, and was swept back and neck length. All of these factors made made him look far older than he seemed to be. The man wore a dark green suit, which appeared to be very expensive, which was covered by a long green coat. He also wore a simple black tie, a white dress shirt, and black boots. Clutched in both his hands was a black spiral shaped cane.
"Thank you for saving me, but who are you though?" The auburn haired young woman asked apparent savior, but the man just gave a small smile in return.
"Who indeed. You may call me the Shaman if you like, it seems as good a name as any to be called." He said as his small smile turned into a full one, a friendly one. Before anymore could be said, hordes of Hollows appeared, roaring and snarling. The man called The Shaman, quickly grabbed Orihime's hand and said but one word.
"Run."
And with that the two ran off down the street. Orihime looked past the Shaman to see what looked like an old phone-booth ahead of them. Though scared, she was also confused as she had never seen a phone-booth in her neighborhood before.
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