I'm pretty sure you are all aware of this fact, but I'll say it anyway just to be safe: I don't own Bleach. Also, thanks to Amani Ishikawa for being a truly wonderful beta!
Chapter 1: All Hope Is Not Lost After All
Kurosaki Ichigo shrugged and dug his hands into the pockets of his blood red trench coat as he cantered through the chilly streets of Karakura Town. It was that time of the year again; the leaves had turned as orange as his hair, and the air was as crisp as the newly fallen leaves rustling beneath his feet. Summer was gone, and fall had arrived; but other than the weather, nothing had changed in Japan, for Kurosaki Ichigo stumbled upon a scene that was neither surprising nor unexpected.
In the alley between two respectable neighborhood blocks stood four men, one of whom was cornered against the post of a street lamp. He was a stout, balding man of decent profession, made evident by his dark gray suit that displayed signs of fading either from constant use or age. He was holding an attaché case, which acted as a shield between him and the other three men, though it did the job poorly. His large, thick glasses only made the generation gap between him and the rest of the men even more obvious.
The other three men were much younger, for they all had heads full of hair and defined muscles. They didn't appear to be high school students since they were not fashioning the usual school uniform that would be worn on a school day. The tallest of them had dark skin. He was wearing a beanie, black shirt, and military cargo pants. He appeared to be the leader, for the aging man seemed to fear him the most. The man to his left was lighter in complexion, only made lighter by his oversized black sweatshirt. Instead of a beanie, he fashioned a regular baseball cap worn backwards. The last of the three men wore no such headgear to hide his black afro.
As a last show of resistance, the old man swung the briefcase around him, fending off the evils that were the young men, who were initially shocked by the swinging rectangle, but the shock faded as quickly as it surfaced. The tallest laughed at the old man's futile attempt and easily caught the briefcase.
"Careful there, old man, someone might get hurt" he advised with a sinister smile before wrenching the briefcase out of the old man's grip and throwing it aside.
The briefcase landed not far in front of Ichigo, who watched the scene unfold with utter disgust. "Aren't you guys too old to be bullying?" Ichigo called from the end of the alley.
The three young men paused in their taunting and turned at the sound of his voice. They smirked maliciously when their eyes fell upon Ichigo. The balding man turned to his direction as well and recoiled at the sight of Ichigo. Instead of relief, a newfound fear flitted across his face. His slight gesture was not unmissed to Ichigo, who was not at all surprised. His hair was orange, after all. What other reaction could he expect?
"Heh, what are ya gonna do 'bout it? Blind us with your stupid orange hair?" the leader taunted, and the other two laughed.
Ichigo's scowl deepened, "Yeah, well, it's sure as hell less stupid than your face!"
"What was that, you little punk?" The leader screamed before promptly leaping into Ichigo, who simply lifted his foot so that the leader's face rammed into it. With the same foot, he pushed the appalling face down on the concrete.
"Toshi-bro!" the other two screamed in panic. They looked at Ichigo apprehensively. Ichigo had just beaten their leader with a single foot, after all. They watched in wide eyed horror as Ichigo nonchalantly pressed his foot harder onto their leader's head, who groaned in response. The gesture, serving as the reminder of their leader's defeat, further diminished the two's courage.
"Question one!" called Ichigo and pointed to the older man, who again unsurprisingly recoiled upon making eye contact with him. "Who is that?"
The other two followed the direction to which Ichigo was pointing and then back again.
"I…dunno. Some old man?" the guy with the afro answered unsurely. Before he could even assess the situation, Ichigo kicked his face, and he promptly fell backwards.
"Mit-bro!" the baseball cap-wearing thug cried in panic.
"Great answer!" praised Ichigo as he set his foot on Mit-bro's chest as if it were part of the road. He glared dangerously at the only conscious young male left. "Question two: why were you disrespecting him?"
The last punk standing stammered nervously. He knew that there was no way he could defeat the guy in front of him, so he did what any man would do – run away like a kicked dog with his tail between his legs.
Unsurprised by the thug's retreat, Ichigo turned his attention back to the old man in distress, who once more shied away from Ichigo's eyes. Again, Ichigo wasn't surprised. He walked towards the man's fallen briefcase and picked it up. His scowl relaxed as he handed the man his briefcase. The man's hand twitched; he was hesitating to take Ichigo's offer despite Ichigo's gentler expression. Finally, and very quickly, the man took back his briefcase, as if he were afraid that Ichigo would play a mean trick on him and pull the briefcase back before he could reach it. "T-thanks," the old man muttered before scurrying away.
"No problem" Ichigo said to no one, for the old man was already out of sight before Ichigo could utter a word. Tucking his hands back into his pockets, Ichigo continued walking to his original destination.
Later that day, when twilight fell upon Karakura Town and the sun was sinking below the horizon, Ichigo walked the same street back to his apartment, and once again, he found himself in a skirmish. He was simply walking back home from a day's work of helping his dad in the clinic when a familiar man stepped out from behind a lamp post.
"There you are" he said ominously, and as if on cue, a group of men emerged from the shadows and surrounded Ichigo, blocking his escape from all directions.
"That's him, Ooshima-bro. He's the one who beat up Yama-bro and Mit-bro" the baseball cap-wearing man tattled to the dark, muscularly built man, "I remember 'cause of his stupid orange hair." The man no longer quivered under Ichigo's gaze.
Ooshima smirked in pleasure like a little boy opening his Christmas gift. "Well, then, we'll just have to pay him back," he cracked his knuckles. "You know, boy, with that bleached hair and drooping eyes, you're copying me."
"Tch, this is my natural hair color. I'm not copying you. Do something about your own hair, you chicken-head. Lay any eggs lately?"
Ooshima could not believe what he had heard. He was so surprised and shocked that his veins were dangerously throbbing on his forehead, and he couldn't even form a proper sentence.
"Chick—you bastard!" In a fit of rage, he took out his brass knuckles. "I'm gonna kick yur arse!"
Depsite the graveness of the situation and the danger around him, Ichigo could not help but focus on Ooshima's words. Wait, did he just say 'yur arse'?, he thought.
"Heh heh" Ooshima chuckled, taking Ichigo's silence to be caused by fear. "It's too late to apologize. Come on guys, let's go return the favor" he ordered, his lips curling into a malicious snarl, and Ichigo no longer had the leisure to ponder Ooshima's previous words.
Unfortunately for Ooshima, Ichigo was a great fighter. From a very young age, he had learned to fight. He was enrolled in a dojo from when he was a child, his father trained his skills every chance that he got as evident from his waking routines and greetings, and Ichigo constantly took part in fights because of his hair. It wasn't surprising that he beat three of the seven men excluding Ooshima with only minor bruises.
Ooshima's eye twitched. He could not believe that such a guy could defeat his brothers so easily. He tightened his fist and charged forward, "Die, you little piece of shit!"
Ichigo easily dodged Ooshima's fist and dug his elbow into his back. Ooshima staggered a few steps forward until he lost his balance and fell on his knees in pain. His brothers worried, and when Ichigo looked at them, they quivered in fear.
"Ooshima-bro!" Ooshima's brothers started yelled in panic, but they were silenced by Ooshima's sinister laugh from the ground. Ichigo curiously looked down on the fallen Ooshima, who was no longer writhing in pain. What could he be laughing about?
"You know, you should have let us beat the shit out of you," he dangerously advised as he started getting up, "that way, you would've lived. But I guess I'm more thankful you put up a fight" he smiled sadistically as he turned to face Ichigo, whose eyebrows knotted in confusion at Ooshima's scheme. Ooshima discarded his brass knuckles into the inside pocket of his coat but his hand lingered, "I wasn't planning on using this, but I guess it'll be more fun" he took out a switchblade from his coat with a sadistic smile. Without a moment of hesitation, Ooshima lunged directly towards Ichigo.
Ichigo's eyes widened in shock that Ooshima would be so serious but dodged the knife nonetheless by stepping to side. Ooshima tottered to a halt before turning back to Ichigo. Without leaving his eyes from Ichigo, Ooshima barked out orders to his brothers. "What the hell are you shitheads doin' just starin', fuckin' hold him down!"
The four men scurried to follow his orders and charged towards Ichigo. He sidestepped one man's punch and kicked that man's back towards another man. Two down. A third man attempted to kick him, but Ichigo ducked and sideswept his feet, causing the third man to lose balance and hit his head on the pole near him. Three down. The fourth, the same baseball-cap wearing guy, was very hesitant to attack.
Ooshima sensed his reluctance and harshly reprimanded him. "What the fuck are you doin' just fucking standing there like a fucking idiot? Fucking hold him down!" When the 'fucking idiot' wasn't showing any signs of following his orders, Ooshima growled in annoyance. "You all are fucking useless!"
He charged directly towards Ichigo, and once again, Ichigo stopped him. Unlike the previous times, however, Ichigo caught Ooshima's knife-holding wrist.
He heaved a sigh. "You know, this is getting ol— " Ichigo abruptly stopped midway through his sentence when he felt a sharp, intense pain in his abdomen. He looked down just in time to see Ooshima pull out another knife that was in his body seconds before. Unlike the other knife in Ooshima's other hand, this knife was tainted red with his blood.
Kurosaki Ichigo had let his guard down. Shit.
Ooshima laughed maniacally. "That'll teach you, you bastard!"
Immense adrenaline pumping in his body, Ichigo knocked foreheads with Ooshima, causing the latter to stagger back, eyes wide with disbelief and shock, for how could such a guy offer so strong a resistance when he had just been stabbed.
Ooshima was about to lunge for another attack, and Ichigo was ready to counter-attack, when the "fucking idiot" held him back by looping his arms around Ooshima's shoulders. "Ooshima-bro, that's enough. Cops are coming! The others left already!" he frantically warned.
Indeed, only the three men were left in the street, and indeed, police sirens echoed through the vicinity.
Ooshima squirmed his shoulders, forcing his brother to loosen his restraints, and smirked at Ichigo, "Tch, looks like you'll live after all."
Without a second glance, the two left Ichigo to his bloody self. Ichigo sighed in relief. At least he won't have to fight anymore and cause more blood loss than necessary. The bottom left side of his orange undershirt was soaked with his blood. He limped his way towards the brick wall, tightening his hold on his fresh wound; it hurt.
He winced in pain as he leaned his back against the wall, and he was so much in pain that at one point, he could not move. It was at this time that he noticed that the police sirens that scared off Ooshima and his brothers were almost inaudible. They weren't coming his way, after all.
Enduring the pain, Ichigo fished for his phone in his pocket, only to discover that it had broken during the skirmish. Knowing that the phone no longer held any value, he let it drop to the ground. His knees buckled from the pain, and he soon followed the discarded phone. As carefully as he could, he bent down to sit on the dirty pavement beside his useless phone.
The sun had fully set, and the streetlamp was blinking above him. Should he walk back toward the clinic? Maybe some citizen would help upon seeing him, but Ichigo gave up the thought. No one would help him. They'd be too appalled by his hair color. Instead of seeking help, he stayed seated against the wall. He hissed as he pressed the wound firmly. Was he going to die? The streetlamp above him stopped blinking, and not a moment after, he was shrouded in darkness. He sighed, which caused him more pain. He was getting dizzy. I guess I really will die…
Instead of crying from utter regret and sadness upon the realization, he smirked at an irony that only made sense to him. Well, this is sixteen years overdue.
He was about to faint when he heard quick footsteps approaching. The streetlamp turned on, and he looked to the direction of the sound to see two feet, clad in white boots, scurrying towards him. The owner of the boots kneeled, and he noticed her caramel hair. He couldn't really make out a face, for his vision was getting blurry.
"Are you ok?" She gasped. "Oh no! You're hurt! Hang on! I'm calling an ambulance right now."
Using whatever ounce of his strength he had left, he pulled her hand which was holding her phone from her ear. "No, I'm alright…"
He tried to offer a reassuring smile, but the pain proved to be too much. Everything went black, but not before her panicky voice telling him to hang on echoed in his head.
Some of the dialogue are taken from the manga. Can you tell which ones?