Author's Notes: I have realized that in order to create good fic, I need to go to the source material. This novelization is that fic. Written using Japanese scanlations of the original manga. Meant to foster a better understanding of the text, and eventually lead to better fanfic. Here we go.


Bleach

Chapter One: Death and the Strawberry

Because we are amorphous,

We hold that in reverence.


Friday

2:23 AM

Karakura Town

A black butterfly fluttered around the girl in the moonlight. She had shoulder length black hair, violet eyes, and she was small, slim, pale, and delicate. She wore black samurai's robes with a white sash (this uniform's robe lining was always white - hence "bleach"), and a silvery katana sword.

She was looking at a map.

"It must be around here…" she murmured to herself. "- I see… I feel strong spirit activity…"

She was suddenly revealed to be floating in midair, over the buildings of the small city, the telephone poles and wire, the lamp posts. She leaped away through the air.

Thus the blade is swung down.


Friday

7:13 PM

Karakura Town

A skateboarder was lying off to the side, unconscious with a bloody face and his skateboard overturned next to him, on the side of a city street. Four more skateboarders had surrounded a teenage boy in a threatening circle on the main avenue of the street.

The teenage boy was tall and thin, in a high school uniform and carrying a book bag. He had messy orange hair and amber brown eyes. He was frowning stoically, looking more bored and bewildered than anything else, scratching at the side of his head as if in exasperation.

"What the?!" the leader of the skateboarders demanded of the boy. "You suddenly appear and kick over Yama-bro, plus you want us to get out of here?! What are you thinking? You wanna die? Huh?!"

The boy looked around, watching everything carefully despite his casualness

Ichigo/15 years old

Hair color/Orange

Eye color/Brown

Occupation/High school student

Special skill/

"Say something, you…" And the lead skateboarder charged toward Ichigo. Ichigo's foot slammed into his face, Ichigo still looking stoical and bored, and the skateboarder fell to the ground unconscious.

One of the remaining skateboarders gasped. "Toshi-bro's down!" another said disbelievingly.

They were getting nervous, even scared.

"D… don't know what's going on, but this is dangerous..." one of them swallowed. "I've never seen such irrational violence…"

"That guy's definitely one of those…" said another. "If we fight him, we'll be killed for sure…"

"Shut up already!" Ichigo shouted, putting a foot on top of Toshi's unconscious head, suddenly angry and expressive. He pointed behind him. "All you guys look over there!"

Beside a pole, an empty milk jug full of daisies had fallen over, little glass pieces broken off and the water draining around the petals in a puddle.

"Question one! What the heck can that be!" The skateboarders looked dismayed as a furious Ichigo pointed at one. He had done a complete change of moods, now turning furious and sarcastic. "Okay, you over there, the stinky looking one!"

"Huh…? M… me? Stinky looking?" The guy pointed at himself uncertainly. "U… Um… An offering to the kid who died here recently…" he admitted uneasily.

"Great answer!" Ichigo shouted sarcastically, suddenly lashing forward and kicking the guy down and unconscious in a karate move.

"Mit-bro!" another of them screamed, terrified out of his wits. The remaining two hurried over. "Mit-bro! You okay, Mit-bro?!"

"Question two!" And then Ichigo suddenly went serious, deadly quiet, changing again. "Then why is that vase… knocked over?" he asked softly and threateningly.

Tampering with an offering to the dead - especially a dead child - was not only sacrilegious but disrespectful.

The two looked up, worried.

"Th… that's…" one began.

"That's cuz we knocked it over… skateboarding…?" the second one finished.

"I see…" said Ichigo thoughtfully.

And then the remaining skateboarders' eyes widened in horror.

"Then shouldn't you apologize to her?!" Ichigo demanded, yelling suddenly in a fit of wide-eyed, frightening temper, pointing behind him… and the ghost of a little girl had appeared floating behind him to the two skateboarders. She had a missing eye, and blood running down the side of her pigtailed face and her shirt dress.

Special skill/Ability to see ghosts

The two skateboarders screamed and ran away.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"I'm sorry! I won't do it anymore! I'm sorryyy!"

They faded away into the distance.

Ichigo sighed, his bored, stoical face falling into place again, the little frown with the curl between his eyebrows. "If we scare them this much they probably won't come around here anymore," he commented. "Sorry 'bout that, using you this way." He turned conversationally to the floating little dead girl.

"Nah. I'm the one who asked you to chase them away, I have to cooperate at least this much," said the ghost girl easily.

Ichigo turned away. "Well then, bye," he said quietly. "I'll bring new flowers soon."

The previous offering had been his.

"... Okay. Thanks, mister." She smiled at his back. "Now I can spend my time quietly."

"You're welcome." He gave a lazy wave as he walked away. "Hurry up and go to heaven."

Yes, Ichigo told us. I am a guy who can see ghosts. My father is the neighborhood doctor. Saving people's lives, not saving them. I don't know if it's because of that, but, as long as I can remember, I've been able to see ghosts.

He walked up to his suburban house, past the clinic sign up in front of the lower story - his father's practice was a home practice - and through the front door in the evening air.

"I'm home," he announced stoically, casual.

And his father jump kicked him across the face in a karate move. "You're - late!"

Ichigo lay there on the floor as his father towered over him, hands on hips. His father had a black beard and was tall and broad-shouldered in a white doctor's coat.

"What time do you think it is, you delinquent son!" Ichigo's father demanded. "You know dinner is every night at seven!"

Ichigo stood up and got furiously right back up in his father's face.

"You! Is that how you greet your son who just returned from performing a serious exorcism?!" Ichigo demanded. Changeful and short tempered again. Past his tough guy stoicality, he was a very changeful person.

"Silence!" his father growled back. "No matter what the reason, to he who disrupts this household's iron harmony, only a punishment of blood can be rendered!"

They were now hitting and crashing each other around the entryway.

"Or what?" his father demanded. "Are you implicitly bragging that only you can touch ghosts and talk to them?! I'm jealous!"

"Shut up! It's not like I wanted to be born this way!" Ichigo returned heatedly.

Two elementary school aged girls, Ichigo's sisters, were sitting at the table eating dinner. One had a pixie cut of brown hair, brown eyes, and soft features; the other had short black hair, black eyes, and sharp features.

"Oh - stop it, both of you," the brown-haired one scolded, motherly. "The food's getting cold -"

"Leave 'em alone, Yuzu," said the black-haired one flatly. "Another bowl." She held out her bowl for food.

"First of all, the rules in this house are way too strict!" Ichigo pointed furiously at his father. "In what world is there a parent that sets a curfew for a healthy male high school student at 7 PM…"

"Oh!" Yuzu brightened. "Ichigo, you already have a new person."

Ichigo whirled around to find the ghost of a middle-aged businessman with glasses floating behind him. Ichigo ducked reflexively. "Aah! This guy! When did he -?! I get rid of them again and again but it's always like this! Damnit!"

"You can see them, touch them, talk to them, plus you're a special A level spirit medium. Your troubles are fourfold," said the black-haired sister casually from the table. "Must be tough having high specs, Ichi."

"But you know… I'm a little envious of Ichigo," Yuzu admitted. "I can only see a blur. I wanna see them clearly."

"Not me - since I don't believe in ghosts or whatever." The black-haired sister took a sip from her bowl of food.

"Huh -? But you can see them too, right?" said Yuzu, surprised. "The only one who can't see is Daddy."

"Stupid," said the black-haired sister flatly. "Whether you can see them or not, as long as you don't believe, it's the same as them not existing."

Yuzu and the ghost both clearly found this very cold, and somewhat worthy of disbelief.

"Forget about that," said the sister. "Hey, I thought of a new project. Listen:

"Would you like to frolic with ghosts in the winds of early summer? Karuizawa Ghost Picnic." She held up a flyer she had made.

"Last month it was to go look at flowers," said Yuzu worriedly.

"Karin! Stop trying to make money using me!" Ichigo demanded temperamentally of his dark-haired sister.

"An opening!" Dad suddenly cheered, pouncing on Ichigo from behind and pinning one arm behind his back on the floor. Ichigo just lay there. His father paused, puzzled, as if this wasn't what he'd been expecting or hoping for at all.

Then Ichigo suddenly tossed his father off of him in a fit of rage.

He stormed up the stairs to his bedroom. "Forget it! I'm sleeping!"

"Ah! Brother!" Yuzu called after him, distraught.

"Oh well, he's gone. It's your fault, Daddy," said Karin matter of factly.

"W… Why!" said their father, looking injured and self conscious. He genuinely didn't see anything wrong in how he treated his son. In his mind, they were locked in an endless karate match, not in an unhealthy relationship. He didn't treat his daughters that way, but it seemed to be the only way he knew how to communicate with his son.

"Ichigo's had a hard time lately!" Yuzu snapped. "He's in a pinch because 'more ghosts have been coming around than before'."

"What! He talks to you two about things like that!" said their father, disbelieving.

"I'll take dinner to his room later," said Yuzu. Yuzu was the cook and laundry person around the family home, as a daughter.

"That kid… He doesn't tell me any of his troubles…" their Dad grumbled.

"Of course," said Karin, not even looking at her Dad. "Not even I would talk about my problems to a father over 40 who only has such childish communication skills."

She was flat, blunt, and to the point.

Their father reacted with shock - and then ran crying to a gigantic, blown-up memorial photo of his wife on one wall. She had long brown wavy curls and was very pretty, smiling beautifully in mid-laugh and surrounded by sakura petals. Above the photograph were the words "Masaki Forever."

"Mother…" he wailed. "These days it must be adolescence, because our daughters are awfully cold to their father… What should I do…" he asked earnestly.

"First start by taking down that ridiculous poster of Mom," Karin muttered, still not looking.


Up in his room, Ichigo talked to us again: Really. For as long as I can remember, I've been able to see ghosts, just like I can see any other ordinary human being.

That's why… I never even thought about…

Ichigo's bedroom door closed, the fifteen pendant on its outside jangling. (A play on his name, which meant "one and five" along with "strawberry.")

"Jeez… why's everyone in our family like that…" he complained, taking off his book bag.

Suddenly, a black butterfly fluttered past his head in the bedroom and he paused curiously.

"A black swallowtail butterfly?" he wondered aloud. "What is this? Where'd it come from -"

His eyes widened. The black-haired girl in robes from the beginning had just floated solemnly right through his bedroom wall.

… The existence of something called "Shinigami."

Shinigami - mythical Japanese spirits that guided souls on to the afterlife.

"... Wha…" Ichigo stared at the girl, stunned. She looked ahead seriously instead of at him.

She landed slowly on the floor from where she'd been floating in the air. "It is near…!" she said darkly and dramatically to herself -

Right before Ichigo kicked her in the back, losing his temper, and sent her flying. "'It is near…' my ass, retard!" he snapped.

The girl just lay there on the floor, dazed and confused, as Ichigo pointed at her from above and started ranting.

"You're a pretty confident burglar, eh?! By 'it is near' do you mean that the safe is near or something?!"

"Y… you… can see me…?" The girl looked around, staring wide-eyed at Ichigo. "I mean to say, did you just kick…?"

Just as no one was supposed to be able to touch a ghost, no one was supposed to be able to touch this girl either.

"Huh? What the heck are you talking about? Of course I can see you…" said Ichigo, surprised and still kind of angry.

Suddenly, his Dad kicked through his bedroom and into his back. "Be quiet, Ichigo! Don't make a ruckus on the 2nd floor!"

Ichigo kneed him in the face in response. "You be quiet! How can I not make a ruckus?!"

"Nice hit," his Dad muttered as he stumbled backwards.

"Look at this guy!" Ichigo pointed furiously at the Shinigami girl. "What the heck is going on with the security system in this house?!"

"Hmm…" His Dad got out of his fighting stance, puzzled. "What do you mean look… Look at what?" He blinked, nonplussed.

"- Huh?" said Ichigo after a pause, still pointing at the girl, now equally confused. "I'm talking about this samurai-costumed…"

"It is useless," said the girl calmly. She had stood straight and now looked serious once again. "It is not possible for ordinary men to see me."

Ichigo turned around and stared at her next words.

"I am - a Shinigami."

Shinigami - a spirit who guided souls on to the afterlife. Literally translated as "God of Death."


In a splash of blood, the monster threw the pigtailed ghost girl's spiritual corpse away on the ground.

"Closer…" it growled, "... strong soul… is closer…"


Back at Ichigo's home, downstairs their father had gone wailing to Yuzu. "Ichigo kicked me hard. Daddy's sad."

"There, there." Yuzu patted him, concerned, strangely the more mature one.

"You reap what you sow," said Karin cryptically from the table, less fazed, but yet again she had a good and somewhat disturbing point - his changeful tempers might have been innate, but a lot of Ichigo's explosions of temperamental violence towards strangers (and his father) could probably be attributed to how he was raised as a boy in his father's household.


Upstairs, Ichigo was talking to the Shinigami girl in his bedroom.

"... I see. So you're a Shinigami…"

He was sitting at a little kneeling table set up in the room across from her. His arms were crossed, his face frowning, stoical, and serious once more.

"And you came from a place called Soul Society to exterminate an evil spirit," Ichigo continued. "Okay! I'll believe you!"

And then he threw the table away, flipping it across the room.

"Yeah, right, like I'd believe that, retard!" he exploded.

The girl made a sound of surprise and alarm, half-standing. "You… you can see ghosts but you do not believe in the existence of Shinigami!" she said in disbelief.

"Of course not," said Ichigo skeptically. "Unfortunately, I've never seen a Shinigami. I don't believe in things I can't see."

He pushed her away by the head toward the nearest wall.

"Dad couldn't see you so I'll acknowledge the fact that you're not human," he admitted. "However, quit the Shinigami crap. Got it, you little brat?"

The girl's temper had sparked - apparently at being called young and short. "You have spewed nonsense," she hissed, and whirled around, throwing out two fingers. "First restraint! Obstruction!"

Ichigo's arms and legs sprang together, paralyzed. He was alarmed and surprised as he fell over flat on the floor.

He began complaining loudly. "You… what'd you do…!" he forced out, perhaps trying to hide fear.

The Shinigami girl snickered and smirked, putting her sandaled foot atop Ichigo's body. "You cannot move! This is called kido, demon form, and it is an advanced type of incantation spell only Shinigami can use."

She took out her sword, still smirking.

"Even though I look like this, I have been alive almost ten times longer than you have. And you dare to call me little brat?"

Shinigami aging rules were ten different kinds of fucked up, in reality. She was implying here that she was ten times Ichigo's age - he was fifteen, the official Japanese coming of age ceremony period, so she would be a hundred and fifty - but we really don't know. Her physical age, like most spirits', was indefinable. In the world of Soul Society, most adult or even preteen or teenage spirits were the age of people who would at least be aging in human terms, if not dead. On top of this, spirits were the same physical age for decades, only to go through sudden spurts of alarming growth. Some even regressed back the other way. Aging seemed to be tied to desires, spiritual growth, emotional change, and point in life. So Ichigo could theoretically meet a spirit physically younger than him and in age old enough to be his grandfather. And next month they could be his physical age. But even meeting someone supposedly both physically and in age older than him was vague and up in the air as to what it actually meant. It was damn hard to figure out how "old" a spirit was.

Soul Society judged people emotionally and spiritually - not in terms of physical age.

The Shinigami forces fraternization laws made just about as much sense, in that they were openly nonexistent. Unlike some manga, who left fraternization laws vague or up in the air, maybe there or maybe not, Shinigami flouted fraternization laws so often that they could not realistically exist. At best it would be a stretch.

"Usually, I would kill fellows like you," the girl continued, smirking, her sword unsheathed, "but spiritual law states that one cannot kill humans they have not been ordered to kill. I will have to be content with just sealing your movements. Give thanks, you little brat."

Ichigo's teeth clenched in helpless fury as she threw his own words right back at him.

"And…" she continued, and lifted her sword. Ichigo's eyes widened in fear as he became convinced he was somehow about to be executed anyway -

But this was not at all what happened.

The sheath of the girl's sword went in the forehead of the ghost of the businessman beside Ichigo. Ichigo watched in alarm and surprise, teeth gritted, as the ghost's eyes widened in shock.

"N… no… I… don't want to go to Hell yet…!" the businessman begged, tears filling his eyes.

"Do not fear," said the Shinigami girl quietly, serious. She did not smile, but did not seem cruel either. "The place you are headed to is not Hell. It is the Soul Society. Unlike Hell, it is a peaceful place."

She lifted the sword back, revealing the RELEASE character stamped on his forehead in Japanese. The old man dissolved and disappeared in a flood of light. Seconds later, a black swallowtail butterfly in his place fluttered away and out of sight through the ceiling.

"... Wh… what happened to that ghost…?" Ichigo managed uncertainly, unusually hushed.

"I sent him to the Soul Society. It is called Konso, or soul burial," said the Shinigami. "In your language I believe you call it 'going to heaven.' It is one of a Shinigami's duties."

It would be useful to mention at this point that the world of Bleach seemed to follow traditional Buddhist ideas of death. Souls died, went to the afterlife or a kind of Heaven, and were reincarnated according to their karmic balance of good and bad deeds. Those with a huge history behind them wandered as ghosts after death. The worst people on earth went to a Hell realm after death.

This Shinigami had just taken a ghost and sent them on to the afterlife or Heaven - in this world, called the Soul Society, a place the Shinigami themselves lived. She had just helped to regulate the flow of spirits in the universe.

"I guess I shouldn't even ask if you finally believe me or not," she mused out loud to Ichigo, who had gone silent and wary and obviously did believe her. "I will kindly explain," she added scathingly, reaching into a robe pocket, "so that even a brat like you can understand. Shut up and listen.

"In this world there are two types of spirits," she began seriously.

She then proceeded to explain quite solemnly with horrible, childish drawings of cute little bunny characters. She seemed to love bunnies and terrible drawing about as much as she hated being dismissed as tiny and young.

"One type of spirit is called Plus and it is the most common spirit. You can say that the 'ghosts' you usually see are these.

"And the other type is called Hollows and these attack living and dead beings alike and eat their souls. These are what you call 'evil spirits.'

"Do you have any questions so far?" she asked matter of factly, kneeling with her absurd diagrams before his prone, entrapped form.

"Umm. Can I start by asking why your drawings abnormally suck?" Ichigo asked, for once perhaps not actually trying to be offensive.

Then he began protesting loudly as the Shinigami used her marker to draw a long, curling black mustache across his face. She seemed rather pleased with herself.

"Damnit! Just 'cuz I can't move," he growled, dismayed. Ichigo cared about his appearance and tough guy persona more than he wanted people to know.

"I will continue the explanation," said the Shinigami smoothly, "Your Highness Mr Baron.

"We Shinigami have two duties.

"One is to guide Pluses to Soul Society using Konso or Soul Burial, as you have seen.

"And the second is to extinguish Hollows. My current mission is this."

Ichigo had just finished wiping his mustache off onto the floor before it stuck, moving his head around, but at this he paused. "Wait a minute. If you came here on your mission, does that mean the thing called Hollow is around here?"

"That would be the case," said the Shinigami, nonplussed.

"A… are you stupid?!" Ichigo exploded indignantly. "Why are you loitering in a place like this? Hurry up and go get it!"

"Well… you see…" The Shinigami looked away, her expression tight and uneasy. "I do not know why, but I cannot feel its presence anymore…"

"Wh… what the heck do you mean…" Ichigo began. And then he froze, eyes widening, as he heard it. A kind of howling roar.

Wh… what was that… just now…? he thought, shaken.

"It is as if a great power is hindering my senses…" said the Shinigami to herself, finger to her lips, puzzled.

"Hey! Hey, Shinigami!" Ichigo called, angry because he was afraid and alarmed.

"What?" She turned to stare at him.

"What do you mean what?! Didn't you hear that huge voice just now?!" he demanded.

"Huge voice?" The Shinigami paused, growing more serious. "When did…"

And then she paled, her eyes widening, as she heard the howl as well - as if from very nearby.

I heard it! She whirled around toward the sound. This is… undoubtedly the voice of a Hollow!

But it still sounds like an invisible filter is out there… Exactly what is this feeling?! No, more than that -

She turned slowly, in a kind of horrified wonder, to Ichigo, who was still entrapped watching her seriously and expectantly.

This guy - He heard the voice before I, a Shinigami, did…?!

The moment broke and she whirled around at a crash and a scream from downstairs.

"It's Yuzu's voice…!" Ichigo realized, paling and looking horrified. The Shinigami made to run through the bedroom doorway. "Hey! Wait up, where are you going?! Was that voice from before a Hollow's?!"

"Yes!" she barked, pausing in the doorway. "I will go and get rid of it! You stay here!"

"Cut the crap! The one getting attacked is my family!" Ichigo positively snarled, his eyes wide and afraid despite the fury in his face. "Release this spell! Hurry!"

"What are you saying?! Even if you come, there is nothing you can do!" the Shinigami shouted back. "The number of victims will just rise by one! Leave it to me and stay here quietly! Got it?!"

She grabbed her sword, ran out through the bedroom doorway - and was blown away, pausing, by the sheer force of spiritual presence coming from downstairs. Such spiritual force…! How could I not have noticed it until now…?

What has happened to me?!

"I… Ichi… you okay?"

Rukia looked down the hall and her eyes widened. Ichigo paused at the voice.

"Karin!" he called, as a blood-covered Karin appeared crawling with effort into his doorway.

"Good… It hasn't come here…" she whispered with a weary smile. "It happened so suddenly… Blood started pouring out of Daddy's back and he fell… Yuzu and I were attacked by something huge while we were still in shock… And I thought, I had to… warn you…"

Ichigo just lay there, stunned, eyes wide.

"I wonder what that is…" Karin continued. "I could see it a little… It looked like Daddy and Yuzu couldn't see it… Ichi… Before it sees you… Hurry… Get away…"

Ichigo's teeth gritted silently as Karin fell unconscious.

The Shinigami leaned down and felt her. "... Do not worry. She is just unconscious. Her soul is still…" The Shinigami looked around and her eyes widened.

Ichigo had half stood, struggling. He was trying to break the kido spell.

"... Stop it! What are you doing?!" she barked, horrified. "Stop it! You cannot release that incantation with a human's power! If you force it, your soul will…"

But the viewer never finds out exactly what would have happened to Ichigo's soul if he'd failed. Because the Shinigami broke off, stunned. Ichigo's face twisted into a snarl, his eyes crazed by love and protective fear and anger, he screamed and screamed - and with a snap of power, he was free.

Not even hesitating, he grabbed a baseball bat from beside his bedroom door and ran past the stunned Shinigami, down the stairs and out of sight before she could break out of her shock.

How -...? she thought. To release demon form with human power…? I never heard of such a ridiculous thing…!

"Wait!" she called belatedly, but he was gone.

She stared after him.

What exactly is he -...?


Ichigo sprinted down the staircase and appeared in the family room. A massive hole had been made through a far wall to the outside night beyond, presumably by the Hollow.

Yuzu! Dad! were his only thoughts. Two words - his whole new focus.

The kitchen was ruined and broken, the table smashed in half. Blood was smeared everywhere, splattered on the walls. Dad lay, his back an open gushing wound, unmoving.

Ichigo gritted his teeth, but realized he couldn't find Yuzu. He looked around reflexively, through the hole to the outside - and he paused, his eyes widening.

Because for the first time, he saw the Hollow.

It was a great, hulking monster. It was white and grey, humanoid but with a great spiky spine, covered in black markings. Its face was a white and black mask face with leering skull teeth and dark, gaping holes for eyes, a tiny light of sentience in each eye.

His gaze met the gaze of the Hollow, and Ichigo froze as it turned slowly to look at him.

Th… This is… a "Hollow"…! he realized in primal, instinctive, frozen human fear. She said "evil spirit" so I thought it'd be in the form of a human… This is a monster…!

Ichigo realized he was trembling, and he gritted his teeth, glaring through his fear, clutching at himself to try to stop the shaking. For Ichigo, a monster was somehow more frightening.

Damn…! Why am I shaking? I'm not scared! I'm not scared of something like that! I've seen countless ghosts! Even that's just a ghost!

Then his eyes widened, horror taking over his face. Because he'd just seen Yuzu's doll-like form, in the grasp of one massive, humanoid Hollow hand. She looked near unconscious… defeated.

"Yuzu!" Ichigo screamed.

She looked over and saw him, blood on her face and tears filling her eyes. "... Ichigo…!" she whispered.

And just like that, Ichigo's fear was gone. He had found for the first time an alternative to fear - irrational, protective, horrific fury.

Screaming, he raised the baseball bat like a weapon and sprinted instinctively toward the Hollow to attack it.

The Hollow made to lash out at Ichigo, who just managed to raise the bat in alarm in time. Ichigo was shoved back by the bat, skidding on his butt, sitting up with effort in the aftermath of the attack and realizing in dread that the bat was broken. He looked up, and the Hollow was right above with an arm raised to attack him. Ichigo had just enough time to realize he was about to be eaten -

Before the Shinigami girl appeared, slicing at the Hollow's attacking arm calmly with her sword.

Ichigo and Rukia's eyes met, Ichigo's in wonder and Rukia's in something that might be hidden concern, as the Hollow screamed and dropped Yuzu, screeching and retreating.

"Yuzu!" Ichigo screamed, and he ran forward and caught his little sister in his arms, his eyes wide and distraught. "Yuzu! You okay?! Hey!" He shook her, but she wouldn't wake up.

"Do not lose focus, boy!" the Shinigami girl called in warning, landing in a stance with her sword in front of them. "None of your family members have had their souls eaten!"

"None…?" Ichigo asked, looking up.

"Yes, even your father lying over there!"

"Wa… wait a minute! Don't Hollows attack people to eat their souls?!" Ichigo demanded, confused. "Then what did it attack my family for…"

The Shinigami's back was to Ichigo as she answered.

"... Hollows wander searching for souls with high spiritual concentration… For that, arbitrary humans are sometimes attacked."

"... What do you mean…" Ichigo asked warily.

"-I… have never seen or heard of a human," the Shinigami admitted, "who can see Shinigami and defeat kido on their own… or, a human with such high spiritual concentration…"

She turned to him solemnly.

"... Most probably, its target… - is you!"

Ichigo stared in silent horror.

The Hollow was beginning to recover. It readied itself for another assault, but neither character was paying attention to it anymore.

"... Wait a sec…" And Ichigo gave a horrible, strangely bitter, hysterical smile. "... He came for me…? So does that mean this is my fault…? The reason my Dad's over there almost dead… The reason Karin and Yuzu are covered with blood… It's all…"

Ichigo was staring blankly at the ground, his head bowed, that horrible smile still on his face. This hit him especially hard, for reasons that were not entirely clear yet.

The Shinigami turned back to him completely it what was now clearly concern. "Wait. I did not mean…" she began, the Hollow looming huge and unnoticed right up behind her.

And then the Hollow swatted her aside like a fly. She landed hard and fell unconscious.

"... Shinigami…!" said Ichigo in alarm, looking up and staring over at her, coming back to himself.

The Hollow now loomed above Ichigo - whose eyes narrowed. The Hollow roared, and Ichigo's teeth gritted in genuine hate. There was not a trace of fear left now.

"... That's enough already!" he growled, and prepared to act.


The Shinigami sat up and clutched her head, more irritated than anything by the blood and the pain. "To neglect defending my back before an enemy…" she hissed to herself. "I was careless… Such incompetence…"

Then she looked up, saw what was happening, and stopped completely. Her eyes widened and some incomprehensible horror came over her face - something beyond perhaps what her current situation warranted. She saw more there than most people would.

Ichigo was standing in a stance, strong and steady, before the Hollow. It was right across from him. His fists were clenched - and then he smirked.

"Hey… you…" he said, strangely amused, calm. "You want my soul, right…?"

Even the Hollow had paused in silence.

"Then fight me face to face!" His eyes were hard, fiery, and he pointed his thumb at himself. "No one else has anything to do with this! Try killing me and taking my soul!"

"Fool!" the Shinigami hissed, moving to sprint forward, but she knew, had to know, that this wasn't quite the truth. She knew the human boy didn't stand a chance against the Hollow.

But here was the thing: he knew it, too.

He was sacrificing himself.

The Hollow flew forward, mouth open to eat him. Ichigo grimaced and tensed himself in wide-eyed preparation. The Hollow was about to make impact with Ichigo's body -

And then the Shinigami ran in between them and took Ichigo's attack for herself, her arms spread wide in instinctive defense.

The Hollow spat her back out and retreated. She fell limply, bloody, to the ground, sword loose in her hand. Ichigo had screamed out, but it took him a second of processing to make an actual, coherent word.

"Shinigami!"

"You… idiot…" the Shinigami panted from the ground, a pool of blood forming around her. "I already told you that your power is no match for it…! Or did you think that everything would be over if you gave him your soul to eat…" She looked up at Ichigo sharply. "Either way you are an idiot…!"

Ichigo stared, wide-eyed and caught out - then he looked down in genuine shame. "I'm sorry… I just…"

"Do not worry about it… is what I would like to say…" With dignity, the Shinigami tried to force herself into an upright sitting position. "Unfortunately, I am no longer able to fight the Hollow…"

She could not sit up. She rolled over onto her back instead, her face looking towards the sky.

"Now all of us can only wait…" she said hoarsely and distantly, "... until we become its food…"

Ichigo gritted his teeth and slammed a fist to the ground. It's my fault…! he thought, the same thought he'd had before ironically. Ichigo had a guilt complex. Everyone'll die...!

Rukia watched him sympathetically, panting.

"... Do you want to save your family…?" she asked softly.

Ichigo looked up. "Is there a way?!" he said quickly. "A way to help them?! Tell me!"

Finally, she forced herself to sit up and grab her sword, gritting her teeth against the pain and leaning back against a nearby street pole. "There is a way… No, to be exact… I should say there is only one way…"

She held up her sword seriously to him.

"You… become a Shinigami!"

Ichigo looked afraid - an interesting reaction - afraid, and surprised. "Wha… what are you saying… how can I…"

"You can! Pierce the middle of your chest with this zanpakuto, or spirit killing sword… and I will insert half of my Shinigami power! That way, you will attain the power of a Shinigami temporarily… and will be able to fight the Hollow on equal terms!"

"Is it really okay… to do something like that…?" Ichigo asked uncertainly.

"... I do not know. Of course this is a plan set up anticipating your high spiritual pressure… The percentage of success is not high… If it fails, you die…!

"However, there is no other way!" Her eyes and voice were made of iron. "No time to deliberate."

Ichigo hesitated. And then he heard Yuzu's voice.

She was murmuring in her sleep, distraught. "... Ichigo… Where are you…? Ichigo…"

Ichigo looked over, his eyes tender. "... Yuzu…" he said quietly, revealing a rare moment of soft openness. "Are you having a scary dream…"

"Don't come… It's dangerous… Hurry and get away…" Yuzu murmured to Ichigo in her dream, tears in her eyes clenched closed. "Ichigo…"

This hit Ichigo to his core.

Damnit…! Why are all of them… worrying about me when they're about to die…! Makes me who's being scared for myself… look stupid!

And Ichigo clenched his fists and smirked.

"Give me the sword, Shinigami!" He reached out. "Let's give your idea a try!"

She smiled up at him. "It is not 'Shinigami'," she said warmly. "It is 'Kuchiki Rukia'."

"... I see. I'm Kurosaki Ichigo," said Ichigo, smiling back. "Let's pray this doesn't become the last greeting… for both of us."

The Hollow had recovered, howled, and charged.

"The Hollow's coming… if we don't hurry…"

She lifted the sword. He hesitated for a split second - and then grasped its blade firmly, his hands near hers on the handle. She pointed the sword at his chest, and it was clear both were nervous.

"... Let's do it," said Ichigo first, serious.

"... Yes," said Rukia at last.

And Ichigo's face contracted as the Hollow charged and the zanpakuto was pierced through his chest -

And in an explosion of light and power, the Hollow paused as one of its arms fell off - sliced off at the shoulder joint by an invisible blur of speed.

The light faded and Ichigo was standing behind the Hollow, frowning seriously, in full black and white samurai robe Shinigami regalia. A long sword, as long as his body, was lifted across his back behind him. His eyes were deadly.

The arm fell beside him.

Rukia knelt, staring uncertainly, clutching at herself bleeding in a white underrobe. "How could… it was only supposed to be half… but all my powers were taken…" she said to herself softly, worried as she looked at Ichigo that far distance away.

Furthermore this feeling… that time… "I cannot feel its presence anymore"... "It sounds like an invisible filter is out there"... How could I not have noticed it until now! "It as if a great power is hindering my senses."

That was him!

That room was filled with the spiritual force pouring out of him… That had completely confused my senses…!

Ichigo and the Hollow were charging at each other, Ichigo's massive sword raised.

I have never seen a human that could see Shinigami! I have never seen a human defeat kido! I have never seen the zanpakuto, which changes form in response to the Shinigami's individual spirit power… become so large!

Ichigo raised his sword and sliced off one of the Hollow's legs. It screamed out in pain and fell toward him howling. Ichigo raised his sword, determined.

"Realize the mistakes of messing with my family, fish-face!"

He sliced through the Hollow's head and down through its body. In a burst of light straight through its middle, the Hollow disappeared.

Rukia stared. This guy, exactly… who is he…?

Ichigo's sword hit the ground, his blow finished and the Hollow disappeared. His face was deadly serious.

Kurosaki Ichigo/15 years old

Hair color/Orange

Eye color/Brown

Occupation/ High school student - Shinigami

In the next panel, we see Ichigo passed out in Shinigami form on the ground, facedown, like he fell unconscious right after finishing the blow. Rukia ran up beside him and knelt down to his level… but she paused.

Hearing a footstep from a set of geta clogs coming from right behind her.