DISCLAIMER – I don't own Bleach or any of its characters
Kurosaki Ichigo stood waiting in the middle of a quite street in Karakura, listening to the thundering footsteps of the hollow that was slowly approaching.
As he waited he didn't feel the blazing summer sun beat on his skin nor did he feel the coolness of the gentle breeze as it flowed by him. Even the people who walked by him in the street didn't pay any attention to the strange boy with bright orange hair and dressed in a black hakama and gi with an enormous cleaver-shaped sword resting on his shoulder.
A monstrous roar blasted out from not far away, he began towards it. It came as no surprise to him that the people in the street, now running from the apparent explosion, couldn't see him. Very few people would be able to, after all, he was dead.
A rueful grin spread across his face at this. Twenty-one years old and already dead, well things could be worse. At least he already had friends in soul society and, already being a fully-fledged shinigami, he didn't have to go through the academy. And he got to spend more time with her.
She was nearby now he could feel her. Kuchiki Rukia, his captain and his lover. Sure dying young sucked (although he didn't like the thought of running around and fighting hollows as an old man) but it had definitely made things easier for the two of them.
As this final thought crossed his mind he found himself recalling the day it had happened.
Ichigo was lying under a tree in the park, enjoying the warm summers afternoon with the copy of Romeo and Juliet he was reading safely hidden inside a much larger book on human anatomy, he was a closet romantic and he wouldn't admit it to anyone not even himself. As for the book on anatomy well, he was studying to be a doctor so it was at least credible that he would have it even if it were unlikely that he would study during the summer holidays.
His appearance hadn't really changed from the day he'd first fought a hollow. It had been explained to him that this slow ageing was a side effect of the frequent use of his powers. He had had fun imagining people's reactions if he still looked to be in his teens when he was a hundred, but he would become old… eventually.
A sudden terrified screech pierced the air dragging his attention away from the friar's explanation as to why both Romeo and Juliet were lying dead in the tomb.
With instincts born from years of fighting hollows he rose to his feet and ran cautiously but quickly towards the place the scream had originated from.
When he arrived something very strange happened, there was a loud bang, and a sudden sharp pain shot through his stomach. As suddenly as the pain came it went leaving him feeling numb. Looking down at himself he saw blood oozing from a wound in his chest and looking up he saw a police officer holding a gun that was pointed directly at him. The look on the policeman' betrayed nothing, in fact it was completely blank as though his soul was missing, there was actually a bit of drool dangling from the corner of his mouth, the reason for this became apparent almost immediately. Protruding from the back of the officers head were four very long, very thin tentacles which lead back to one very nasty looking hollow.
Just after the realisation that this man was being controlled Ichigo's body failed him. If the hollow had stuck around any longer it would have been in for a big surprise as from the newly dead corpse rose, not just any ordinary soul but the soul of a shinigami.
He knew at once why the hollow had decided to flee, he sensed not far from where he was the approaching reiatsu of another shinigami. What was more he knew who it was, this reiatsu was very familiar to him. He chuckled. Fate definitely had a sense of irony.
"Ichigo?" a feminine voice behind him spoke softly.
"Rukia." Came his simple reply as he turned to face her. It had only been a few weeks since he'd seen her last but he found himself drinking in her appearance just the same. The short, sleek black hair, the deep blue eyes and her porcelain skin, she was wearing the normal uniform of the shinigami with a white robe worn over the top indicating her status as captain. Her small stature gave her the deceptive impression of being fragile. He knew better, if there was one thing Rukia was not it was fragile, at least not physically.
"Did you get it?" she enquired.
"No, it ran away." he responded, deliberately trying to keep his voice nonchalant, and trying not to think about the fact that this time he wasn't going to be returning to his body. "It got me though."
"What? Where?" the poorly concealed concern was evident in her voice.
He simply pointed to the body lying at his feet, his body. As Rukia lowered herself to the ground to examine his body, his corpse, he found himself thinking. Normally he wasn't very good at being introspective but these weren't exactly normal circumstances even for him. After all this time it had finally happened one of those bastards had finally got him. It was weird; he didn't know what to feel. He felt sad, but not for himself after all he already had a life outside of the living world, his sorrow was for those he would be leaving behind. Well, he decided, in a way the sadness was for him after all he would miss them, his friends Chado, Orihime, Ishida, Tatsuki and most of all he would miss his family Yuzu, Karin and his insane, ex-shinigami father. Right, he had to stop thinking now or he was going to start getting emotional. To help in his intention to distract himself from his thoughts something hit him in the side of his head, hard.
"What was that for?" he yelled, after recovering from the blow she'd dealt him.
"Baka, I leave you alone for a few weeks and you manage to get yourself killed." Her voice sounded angry, but he'd caught the other, barely suppressed emotion in her voice and changed tact.
"Yeah well it's not like I'm completely gone is it." He said this as a statement rather than a question. Before she could respond he asked another question. "So what now?"
"What do you mean?" She asked her question in a tone of voice that suggested the answer to his question was obvious. This caused him a small flash of irritation.
"Well I'm guessing that you don't perform konso on a shinigami."
"Baka, of course not, we'll go through the gateway." This made him feel stupid he should have realised that, but he didn't let his irritation show.
"One more question." He said as she turned away.
"What?" He gave a slight grin at the trace amount of annoyance he heard in her voice.
"Can I go see my dad? I'd rather he got the news from me than some random policeman." He noticed that her voice softened as she replied:
"Yes."
With that the two of them took to the rooftops and headed towards his house on the other side of town as a small crowd began to gather around the bodies of him and the policeman.
His father had taken it rather well considering, however he his dropped the mask of foolishness and his face hadn't betrayed any emotion.
He had turned up for his own funeral as well to say farewell to his friends, he'd refused to say goodbye. After all, he would see them again eventually.
All in all the day of the funeral hadn't been too sad, the majority of his friends and family could see him and talk to him. They had shared jokes and memories and he'd promised each and every one of them that he would stop by and see them if he ever got the chance.
Maybe that was a promise he live up to today, he thought, as saw the dark shape of the hollow he was hunting come into view from behind one of the buildings, he wasn't too far from any of his friends houses.
He gave one last giant leap and landed directly in front of the creature he was hunting. He was going to take a grim satisfaction in killing this one. He'd found it kind of ironic when Rukia had told him what his assignment was.
Looking at the creature in front he knew it was definitely the same one. The same long, thin tentacles, the same ugly white mask. It was definitely the same hollow that had killed him, and he could see from the look in the creature's eyes that it recognised him as well.
He felt his lips curve into his usual grin, as he raised Zangetsu into a ready position.
"Come on ugly. Time for round two."
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