:Black Rose Chapter 1 – Prologue, "Eighteen Years":
A tall, well-built young man stands before a crowd of people. Some are crying, some just staring blankly into the far off distance. He walks through the mass of bodies, barely half of them still alive and most of them are dying quicker than they can be healed. At the back of the crowd stands a small group, huddled together like lost sheep. He walks towards them and smiles grimly.
One of the group; a thin but manly-looking boy with blue-like hair and glasses sitting down on his nose; returns the gesture. He holds in his arms a large-breasted woman who seems to be in a state of horrific shock, having just sighted the bloody body of a young child, barely four years old.
It is then that young man spots his sisters standing over their father's body, the older holding the younger. He died defending his son and daughters and now, at last, he can be with his beloved wife.
The blue-haired boy speaks hesitantly, "Ichigo… is this all there is?"
No, he wants to say, there are more survivors. There has to be. But he cannot speak a lie.
"…I think so," he looks down as tears come to his eyes.
Now the woman looks up at him, "Ichigo-kun…I… Why? …How?" She doesn't have to say anything else; he can see the painful questions in her eyes. Why did this happen? How did it come to this?
He wipes away his tears with his good arm, the other having been wounded earlier in the fight. There is still fresh blood flowing from the wound, as well as from some other even worse injuries, but he takes no notice.
He says the only thing he can, "I'm sorry," he falls to his knees and he fails to hold back the tidal waves that have been threatening to burst forward, "I'm so sorry. Orihime, Uryuu, I'm so sorry…so sorry…"
A small hand rests on his shoulder. He doesn't have to turn his head to know who it is, "Rukia. Please, please don't. Just…don't."
Rukia pulls her hand back quietly and says, "We found Chad." At this, both Uryuu and Orihime looked up quickly, as did his sisters, Yuzu and Karin.
They all open their mouths to say something but she stopped them with a hand, "He's alive. Barely. Captain Unohana herself is treating him now." Ichigo collapsed, exhausted from the worry and sudden relief. He falls forward, unable to hold himself up any longer and feels strong hands lift him back up.
He squints to try and make out the blurry figure in front of him, "R-Ren-ji? Wh-at?"
Somewhere in the back of his mind he registers that his speech is slurring but cannot voice anything else as he starts to lose consciousness, the worried questions and scared screaming of his name all blurring together,
"Ichigo!"
"Kurosaki-kun!"
"What's wrong with him?"
"Dammit, Ichigo, stay with me!"
"What's happening?!"
"Rukia, go get help!"
"Ichi-ni, please don't die!"
"Ichigo…"
And then, silence joins the darkness.
IAMREALLYSPECIALCAUSETHERESO NLYONEOFME!IAMREALLYSPECIALCAUSETHERESO NLYONEOFME!IAMREALLYSPECIALCAUSETHERESO NLYONEOFME!
"AHHHHHHH!"
"Hold him down! We can't let him move, he re-open his stitches!" The warning does not register in Ichigo's mind but he is in too much pain to pay attention. It does no good anyway as the stitches cannot hold out and he feels a further burning sensation in his abdomen.
"ARRGHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"The sedatives! GET THE SEDATIVES!"
"He's gonna end up killing himself at this rate, ain't he, Captain?"
"Hush. Now bring in some members from some other squads with enough strength to hold him down." This was all Ichigo heard before a needle pierced his arm and the darkness claimed him again.
IAMREALLYSPECIALCAUSETHERESO NLYONEOFME!IAMREALLYSPECIALCAUSETHERESO NLYONEOFME!IAMREALLYSPECIALCAUSETHERESO NLYONEOFME!
Two figures stood in front of the slowly setting sun. Uryuu held Orihime in his arms, letting her tears stain his partly-burnt Quincy uniform yet again.
She slowly looks into his eyes and asks slowly, "Uryuu?"
He looks at her, "Hmm?"
She looks down quickly, "I couldn't help them." This wasn't a question, this time. It was a statement. Uryuu knows that it hurts her so much that when she needed her powers the most, they failed. She couldn't bring anyone back like she had done to Ichigo and others in the past.
He holds her close and whispers, "It's not your fault."
She smiles, but it is not a happy smile, he can see the pain in it, "I know… But…"
"But you couldn't help them. It's okay. We'll make it okay. We'll rebuild our broken lives. The world has been told that Karakura town was hit by a bomb, we can use that. We'll help to rebuild the town. It might not be perfect straight away, but it'll get better. It will take time but everything will be okay. I promise." She smiled, genuinely this time but clutched him as Ichigo's scream echoed through the destroyed landscape.
"AHHHHHHH!"
Uryuu makes the decision then and there to always be by her side, to catch her tears when they fall, to protect her, even if it means at the cost of his life.
"ARRGHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
As the second blood-curdling scream echoes through the air, he lifts her head up by her chin to face him but doesn't need to say anything. She nods, understanding and clings to him again, her tears never ceasing.
IAMREALLYSPECIALCAUSETHERESO NLYONEOFME!IAMREALLYSPECIALCAUSETHERESO NLYONEOFME!IAMREALLYSPECIALCAUSETHERESO NLYONEOFME!
The silence covers the expanse of space and all are silent. The crowd has now gathered, they have all mourned for lost loved-ones and now have been moved to a shelter, made by several Shinigami with earth-type Zanpakutō to create a large cave-like hole in the ground.
They have all just learned of their 'saviour' and his condition. All are holding their breath, waiting for news about what had been happening. All they knew of was that he was injured, and by the screams, it was badly. A little ways off to the left were that group of children and teenagers that were involved with him. It was hard to believe, but most had seen enough today that not much else would surprise them by now. The people murmured to one another as the one referred to as 'Captain' Unohana stepped forward and declared that he was alive, for now and that it was up to his fighting spirit whether he survived the night or not.
They took the news quietly and the silence claimed all yet again. Now all they could do was wait, what else could they do? There was nowhere to go; after all, it wasn't just Karakura town that was destroyed. Neighbouring towns had been demolished as well; the survivors were of all these towns, not just Karakura. But there were still so few of them… they all looked up yet again as a man stepped forward and faced them, holding a large and strange device in his hand and then he seemed to activate the device. Then all the people who didn't know about Ichigo, Shinigami and hollows before this incident suddenly forgot all that had happened and 'remembered' when the bomb had struck and the destruction it had caused.
IAMREALLYSPECIALCAUSETHERESO NLYONEOFME!IAMREALLYSPECIALCAUSETHERESO NLYONEOFME!IAMREALLYSPECIALCAUSETHERESO NLYONEOFME!
Chad stood at the edge of the cave and grimaced. His horrific wounds were gone but the pain hadn't disappeared. Ichigo hadn't been so lucky, apparently his wounds were coated with something that blocked the healing power of any and all so they had been unable to heal him in any normal way. They had been forced to revert to more 'old fashioned' methods, for example, the stitches. Other things were used of course but Chad didn't care for such things, he just wanted to know that his friend would be alright.
Now, Chad looked to the side as Uryuu and Orihime walked toward him. He face twitched into a hidden smile. At least something good had come of all of this. The two hadn't left each other's side. They ignored the silence as all three of them walked outside; silence was now so common between them that it wasn't even uncomfortable anymore.
Orihime was the first to spot Keigo, Tatsuki, Mizuiro, Yuzu and Karin as well as Renji and Rukia sitting further over to the left. They seemed like they had been talking, possibly about Ichigo; but they stopped when they saw them.
Uryuu and Orihime sat down next to the others and Chad stood close by.
They all stayed like that for a while until Yuzu suddenly exclaimed, "Ichi-ni!?" Everyone's heads shot up and they stared.
Ichigo had many bandages over his bruised and battered body and blood was seeping through many of them as he held Zangetsu in his hand.
Karin got over her shock first and shouted, "You idiot! You're in no condition to be up-and-about, get back inside! Everyone will be so worried if they find you're gone!" Sure enough, already worried remarks reached their ears. Exclaims of "He's gone!" and "Find him!" and "Quickly, let the Captains' know!" were heard easily from this distance. Ichigo merely watched them slowly and bowed.
Everyone was confused but didn't give them a chance to say anything, simply saying, "I'm sorry," one last time before he vanished into thin air. Or so it looked like. But they knew he would have used his great speed. Everyone panicked, they wouldn't be able to catch him; he was too fast for all of them. Chad and Uryuu immediately sprang into action, running for the cave to alert the other Shinigami but it seemed they already knew as Yoruichi exited the cave and attempted to chase her former-student.
Three days later Ichigo Kurosaki was declared missing by Soul Society and seven years later they declared him dead. When the real world finally got over the tragedy of the 'bomb-strike' and things had started to move on again, Ichigo Kurosaki was one of the names listed among the missing. Seven years later and his body had not been found so he was also declared dead by the authorities.
And now, eighteen years later, the story would continue once again…
IAMREALLYSPECIALCAUSETHERESO NLYONEOFME!IAMREALLYSPECIALCAUSETHERESO NLYONEOFME!IAMREALLYSPECIALCAUSETHERESO NLYONEOFME!
I'd just like to clear something up now, as quickly as possible. Ichigo was 18 when he disappeared. In other words, this was approximately 1 year after the Xcution arc. So, 18 years later, at the true beginning of this story (next chapter), he is 36 (*panics* I made him old!). Anyway, please review. I think I am very proud of this story and how I've planned out the future storyline, I would appreciate your feedback. Flames are accepted gladly, they help me to understand both how much of an idiot I am and what I could improve in the story. One other thing: I will be changing the name to 'Kuroi Bara'. Same thing, only in Japanese.
Ichigo walks in, "Why are your stories so depressing? 'God Give Me Strength' was better than this. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you liked putting your favourite characters through pain and suffering."
Zaphira glares, "Good thing you know better, then."
Ichigo gulps, "Um, anyway, she already asked earlier but please review. She won't have a set time-table for when she will update her story but if she gets enough reviews she will make the effort immediately. She's just that kind of person, lazy until encouraged. Thank you."
Zaphira smiles thinly and turns toward the reader, "Yes, thank you and just so you are aware of any possible (not definite) future pairings, I will list them in a future chapter. Have a nice day."
Edit 1: Credit for Ichigo's wife's name goes to 'NobodyEpic'; she will be called Takara. The credit for the name of the main character, and many OOC's, goes to 'Raevi'. Both of you will get credit in the next chapter. Oh, and the name of Chad's wife is Amira; credit goes to my mother.
Edit 2: I'm really sorry to everyone who has been waiting on a new chapter, I've been sick, my parents have been sick, I had lots of school work/tests, my dog had cancer, the internet went down, and I've been unmotivated (I've had half of the new chapter sitting on my laptop for weeks and haven't bothered to even look at it, oops). I have slightly modified the story to suit the future story-line better. I hope that clears things up. Oh, the new chapter is up, I hope you all enjoyed the 'preview'. ≧◡≦