Warnings: very AU, character death (sort of)
Summary: In a different world, in a different time, Kurosaki Masaki lived and Kurosaki Isshin died. And thus, a young Ichigo was introduced the world of the Quincy.
AN: I took a lot of liberties with this story, but it's an idea that's been bugging me for a while.
Part One: Nenju Juujika
Chapter One
"Speck of the earth,
Death of the wind.
Drop of the river,
Death of the mountain.
Spark of the volcano,
Death of the ocean."
-Quincy Proverb
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
The clock on the wall read far past visiting hours, but Kurosaki Masaki had always been a troublemaker and a hoodlum (at least, according to her mother; most people referred to her as spirited). Her feet wandered from one end of the room to the next, narrowly avoiding the two blue couches and coffee table centered in the room, her pacing monotonous as the steady ticking of the clock.
Ryuuken doubted the younger woman had scene either an hour of sleep or the light of day since she raced into the hospital, carrying her severely burned son, babbling nonsense. If her husband had seen her, he wouldn't have wasted a moment before throwing her over his should and taking her elsewhere. Anywhere elsewhere.
And that was part of the problem.
Kurosaki Isshin was dead.
Masaki had known that, of course, known he was a former shinigami captain, known that perhaps someday Soul Society would discover former Fourth Division Captain Kyouraku Isshin was, in fact, not dead. But, she never comprehended what it could mean for her and her family. And Soul believed there was relative reason in "the senseless murder of a well-respected doctor and his twin daughters"—despite what the news and the population of Karakura Town said.
After all, Shinigami were strictly forbidden to alter the fates of the living (except in the direst of circumstances). To marry a mortal would surely alter her fate, and any progeny therein were considered less than human: they were merely souls, trapped in a living gigai. From what little he managed to glean from Isshin over the years, the best a child of a shinigami and a mortal could hope for was considered a modified soul, and dealt with accordingly. At worst, the child's soul was terminated.
It was because of this rule that Kurosaki Karin and Yuzu were no longer among the living and the reason why Isshin was no longer with them. When he heard the news, he'd offered a small prayer that Kurosaki's devil's luck would hold, but the man doubted it. Soul Society was entrenched in ancient beliefs and traditions—the slim hopes of the three wayward Kurosakis rested solely on the backs of old friends abandoned over a hundred years ago.
Somehow, Ryuuken felt his sister and nephew were better off running into the hollow.
The boy was lost; aimlessly wandering amidst sideways skyscrapers enclosed by empty streets and overcast sky. He wasn't sure where this place was, or why he was here, but for some reason he could not define, the boy knew he didn't want to leave. Reality was simply too painful.
If the boy had been alone, he might have thought differently. He might have woken up, decided than even if the real world was hell, it was better than existing in a blank nothingness.
But as it was, even if the boy couldn't see or hear his shadow, he knew it was there. Watching him. Waiting for something. The boy didn't care overly much for the shadow, he much rather would have been able to see it face to face, but the shadow drove away the voices…
"…sensei?" Worry.
"I don't…I'm sorry." Sadness.
"Save him. He's all—" Desperation.
"…tell him?" Concern.
"Father…poor kid." Pity.
"…might not…the burning's so severe…" Despair.
The voices hurt. The voices changed this peaceful paradise into a horrifying hell. Sometimes, they turned this world askew, and made him fall forever. Sometimes, the voices caused the overcast sky to pour down rain.
And sometimes, they made him remember…
"Kaasan!"
The brown-haired woman had a death-grip on her son's wrist.
"A girl just jumped in the river! We have to save h—"
"Be quiet," his mother hissed, voice unusually firm.
"But, the girl!"
"Shh!" Her other hand, her left, clutched something beneath her shirt. "Get your father."
"Kaa…san?"
"Don't argue. Go."
"But—!"
"Go!"
The boy turned to run but didn't even have to blink as—something—came flying at him, monstrous, horrible, evil…
…The boy suddenly grabbed at his arm, reliving tearing pain he thought he'd forgotten.
"Oi, grab him!" A voice shouted from nowhere.
God, it hurt to breathe. He collapsed onto a window, hand grasping at the…
….eyes widened in horror when he realized the monster's jaw was biting down on his arm. The sickening smile, whites black and irises gleaming yellowyellowyellow, as if it were some ancient thing ascended from the abyss.
"I—!"
But whatever the woman screamed at him was lost. He couldn't move, couldn't think, could hardly breathe--hypnotized by those yellow, yellow, yellow eyes.
"Such a delicious soul," the monster murmured.
The arrow, burning red, glistening white, came from behind him, nicked his ear, and struck the monster right in the eye. The boy was thrown several feet into the air as the monster writhed.
The second arrow missed.
And he screamed as burning white pain consumed him, screamed as the world burst into fire. And screamed as…
…cool, frost-like arms ghosted around him. The boy looked up into the face of his shadow, an older man with brown hair, eyes obscured by sunglasses. His face was hard to define, as if the man lay somewhere between the very real and imaginary, both physical and paranormal.
"Who are you?" the boy asked, voice hoarse.
The man smiled, but did not speak. And yet, the boy understood: I am me.
"I meant what's your name!"
Amusement flickered across the man's face. For now, I remain nameless.
"You don't have a name?"
I will. And perhaps, someday, you will learn it, when we are fully formed, Ichigo.
"Ichigo is…my name?" It sounded so familiar…
Yes. Kurosaki Ichigo.
"One who protects," the boy quoted from some distant, painful memory. "But who do I…?"
Wake, and you will remember.
He couldn't protect his mother from the monster, he couldn't save the girl from drowning, couldn't even defeat Tatsuki. He was useless. Utterly useless. "How?"
Wake, and you will learn.
"But, I'm awake!" He protested, even though he knew it was a lie. This world wasn't real, couldn't be real…
Wake, Ichigo!
AN: Yes, apparently Ichigo's mother is a Quincy. And alive. And Ishida and Ichigo are cousins…so like? Dislike? Review?
Nenju Juujika: rosary cross, or so my online translator says.
Kaasan: mother
Sensei: doctor, in this case