I figure people are asking, "Another story? Is this going to happen after every three chapters like your other fic's?"
I assure you, its not like that. I saw this challenge on The Infamous Man's profile, and I just had to try it. There's a fic called "My Own Way" by Sig Uchiha that was a neat read, but it hasn't updated in over six months, and is kind of sad to think it might not update. Trying a Bleach story with only Ichigo's Fullbring will be interesting to try, and I hope people will like this fic.
Before you ask if this is another harem fic, I'm letting the readers decide on the pairing. A day after this is posted, I'm going to put a poll up to decide on who Ichigo is going to be with, and if you don't like the choices I'm going to put there, pick Harem and i'll decide on who will be in it if thats going to be the choice.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Bleach.
The rain fell, grey clouds slowly moving across the sky as the residents of Karakura Town moved to get home, or into some form of shelter as quickly as possible. Two such people were seen walking down the sidewalk, one a young woman with fair skin and long, light, wavy brown hair tied in a knot down to her back and had bangs down to her chin in the front. Wearing a light pink shirt and dark knee length skirt, she held the umbrella that was over her nine year old son, Ichigo Kurosaki. Orange was the color of his spiky hair, a smile on his face as he walked with the mother. A yellow rain coat was also used to help the child protect it from the droplets that were dropping from the clouds.
They moved forward by the river's edge, which was quite high due to heavy rain that had been going on for a few days. Despite the danger, the orange haired boy found with his brown eyes a young girl wearing a white poncho, with black straight hair, standing of the river's edge with no umbrella. She looked unsteady, as if she was going to jump in…
Ichigo left his mother's side, ignoring his mom calling out to him as he ran towards the girl. At a smaller age, the boy had heard his father saying that his name meant 'to protect one thing', so he wanted to protect his mom, who has always protected him. When his sisters were born, he wanted to protect them, and attended at a dojo to be able to protect them as well. The people he wanted to protect kept increasing, so he wanted to help this girl that was falling.
Ichigo reached his hand out, trying to be able to stop the girl's momentum before who know what will happen. Right before he was about to grab part of the girl's poncho, pain hit him on his right side before darkness overtook him.
Five Years Later:
"GOOOD MORRRNIIING ICHIGOOO!"
Ichigo's eyes were open after that, lashing out with his right hand and successfully gripping his father's face. The fourteen-year-old teen used the old man's forward momentum to plunge him into the floor.
"Good job my son, there's nothing left I can-your wide open!"
Anticipating the sudden punch, Ichigo blocked it with his left hand, flipping Isshin Kurosaki over onto his front, managing to pin his father to the floor while using leverage over the man's arm. He has become a fairly tall, lean-built person over the years, so it wasn't that hard to pull off the hold cause of the karate lessons he still takes.
"You do this every morning, old man. Is it too much to expect one break on my first day at high school?" The orange haired teen plainly asked his crazy old man.
"You'll get rusty if I let up. Your reaction time will decrease and then you won't be able to guard yourself…like now!" Isshin suddenly called, able to catch Ichigo off balance from a slight kick, that was by the orange haired teen's standards, and make him stumble and let the hold on the older man go, who quickly got back on his feet.
"Success! Now to…"
Isshin never got to finish that statement, Ichigo catching him square in the jaw with a roundhouse kick, sending the single father out from Ichigo's bedroom from whence he came. Sighing, the orange haired teen reclosed door, and went to change into his uniform for Karakura High School. He went to put on a shirt, but stopped to look at his body; he found three scars going from the bottom of his right bicep, which reached to his side aligned to look like a claw mark. Ichigo had gotten it the day his mother was killed, not knowing how he got it. When he woke up from being unconscious, he found himself in a hospital room. After his sisters and father got to him, crying tears of joy that he was alright, he found out that it took an hour before anyone found them, his mom dead over him while he lost a lot of blood; any later and he might've died with his mom.
The news was devastating to Ichigo, knowing his mother was the center of the universe of their family. And once he remembered what had happen before, he couldn't help but blame himself for being a part of how she was killed.
It also made him realized he needed to tell the difference when looking at the spirits of the dead and normal people. He could see spirits as long as he could remember, but couldn't tell the difference when he was younger and didn't think it would matter. That was a foolish decision he made. Convinced it was his fault, he didn't want anyone else he cared about get hurt in the process. So, he still went to the dojo to this day to get as strong as possible.
"Ichi-nii! You're going to be late for school if you don't hurry!" his sister Yuzu called, shaking Ichigo awake from the painful memories. Quickly putting a shirt on and the uniform jacket, he grabbed one last thing before heading out. It was a luck charm with the kanji for Tsuba on it, meaning guard; like a hand-guard for a sword. His old man gave it to him to help get over his depression, as it belong to his mother and Isshin wanted him to have it since it always brought him good luck.
Tying the ends that held the charm inside on the belt loop, by his right pocket on his pants, al the while making sure it wasn't as easy to see, he went downstairs to get a quick bite to eat; he still needed to meet up with Chad.
Getting to the kitchen, he was greeted by a smiling Yuzu Kurosaki, with a cooked egg on a plate for him. She has short light brown hair with short bangs hanging over the right side of her forehead, a red hairclip on the left side of her head. Her eyes are a dark brown color, looking so innocently at her brother. Yuzu was wearing a light pink hooded sweatshirt that reach to her knees, and a yellow apron over it for cooking the egg.
Accepting it, he went and grabbed a few loafs of bread, and put it in the toaster where Karin Kurosaki acknowledged him with a small wave; her dark grey eyes going back to her meal. She has black straight and cropped hair to hang around her face, just above her shoulders. She had on a white short-sleeved shirt with a black tank top over it, and dark shorts for her attire.
With the bread toasted, he placed the egg between the two, making an egg sandwich to eat on the way to school as he headed out the door with his black running shoes on.
Karakura High School:
"My prefect life!"
The cry on the school grounds came from Keigo Asano, anime tear falling out of his eyes as he looked at whom he was going to be classmates with. He had heard many rumors about Sado and Kurosaki from Mashiba Middle School, none of which were pleasant to the brown haired teen. And now there was confirmation that they too were going to Karakura High School, which he heard after getting to the school to start out four good years there.
While he tried to warn his friend Mizuiro Kojima, the black haired teen just nonchalantly ignored him saying until they met the two, the things he heard were only just rumors. Keigo had no intentions on even showing they existed, preferring to play it safe. Still, it was very depressing to him.
"Why, why did this have to happen?" he asked himself with despair, staring at the class assigning sheet for class C-1. Suddenly, the board broke, startling the two new students who where by the board. When the dust settled as Keigo and Mizuiro looked behind themselves, they found an orange haired teen standing next to a muscular and extremely tall Mexican man with wavy brown hair hanging over eyes, but he was actually a teenager if the Karakura High School boy's uniform said anything.
It wasn't long before other boy students, some with weapons, surrounded them in a wide circle. As Keigo started freaking out, a tall teenager with bleached hair and bleached eyebrows with has three earrings in his left ear and a ring on his lower left lip made himself known, looking smug.
"Did you think you could get away from me Kurosaki? Sado?" Reiichi Oshima would've continued with a rant, if the hyperactive teen hadn't caught his attention. Maybe the two were friends with his targets? Doesn't hurt to check.
"Who're you? Kurosaki's friends?"
"NO!" Keigo hastily shook his head, not looking forward to being buried six feet under. "This is my first time ever seeing them!"
"I'm Kojima Mizurio from Hiiragini Middle School. I'm in class 1-3, nice to meet you." Mizurio introduced himself to Ichigo and Chad, much to the Keigo's horror.
"It looks like they became friends. Da-da-da-dun!" Reiichi crack his knuckles, ready to hurt Kurosaki's friends. As the hyperactive teen called for Mizurio in desperation, it was ignored as the black haired teen got response from the orange haired teen.
"1-3, huh? I'm in that class too. I'm Kurosaki Ichigo, and this big guy here is Sado Yasutora." He motioned to the Mexican, who nodded in acknowledgment.
"And, who is that?" the orange haired teen looked towards where Reiichi was standing, the hyperactive teen still trying to get Mizurio's attention despite his predicament.
"He's Asano Keigo. He's pretty smart, although he never studies. He get along well with others and never lies, he's a better person then I am." The black haired teen explained.
"…You're something else." Ichigo told Mizurio, getting a confused look from him, so he explained while he unzipped the school jacket. "It's pretty rare for a person to praise their friend so much around strangers."
"Kojima, are good at making excuses?" the orange haired teen asked, bending his knees.
"So good it's sickening."
"Okay. Then think up a good one in the next five minutes." Ichigo said looking ahead, Chad going next to him ready to fight.
"I need a good one to keep me from getting expelled after I save Asano."
With that, he took off, launching into fray.
Hours Later:
It wasn't long before school was over, the orange haired teen making his way out of the entrance. While there was some skirmish in the beginning, Kojima was able to save his ass from getting expelled. Then he was able to see some of his classmates, some are new people he never met, and some he knew for a while now. One of the newer ones was Chizuru Honsho, who happens to be a lesbian that is attracted to Orihime Inoue, which caught him off guard a bit once he saw the short red haired girl hitting on the burnt orange haired beauty with blue flowered hairpins.
One person he knew was Tatsuki Arisawa, his childhood friend he goes with to the Furin Hall Dojo. She also happens to look out for Orihime like she was her overprotective mother, and didn't take Chizuru's advances well. Often using physical means to keep the red head in line. All in all, it was an interesting school day.
The sound of sobbing brought his attention to the dead girl by the street lamp, a small girl with her long brown hair worn in pigtails held in place with ball hair bobbles was upset over something. Brining out the small glass with a flower and placing it by the street lamp, Ichigo tried to see what was wrong.
"Hey, what's wrong? I brought you fresh flowers today, what happened?" he asked the girl softly, a small smile on his face as he ignored the looks some people gave, since they thought he was talking to a flower and couldn't see the spirit. After waiting for a minute, the girl calmed down enough to give the orange haired teen an answer.
"…It's kind of weird, the sky is scary."
"The sky is…scary?" he asked, looking up to the blue sky with confusion on his face. It seemed normal, but there was a kind of heavy feeling…
A roar made itself known to the orange haired teen, one of the worst sounds he had ever heard in his life. Right after that, a sudden crash in the earth hit the road that was five feet from the two's location. When the dust cleared, the sight that was before him burned into his mind.
The lower half of its body was a pale green like a snake, the upper body having a muscular human body. The entire body was a pale green color; a giant hole in its chest with a white mask that looked liked a chameleon's face. Fear rushed through his body as his eyes met the yellow glowing ones, it was as if he was prey that was being hunted, and it was only a matter of time before he was caught.
It roared again, beginning to move towards them. Ichigo's eyes widened in panic before grabbing the petrified spirit and took off running in the opposite direction as fast as he could go. He didn't dare look back, knowing if he did it'll distract him enough for whatever that thing was to get close enough to catch him and the dead girl shaking in fear in his arm.
Now that he thought about, while taking random turns still running, the spirits he visited sometime disappear in spots of blood. If it was because of this thing, then it started to make sense why they disappear all of a sudden. The question that needed to be answered was what did this thing do to those spirits? Disaster hit when he turned into a dead end street, being corned as that masked thing blocked the only exit available. Seeing no other option, he placed the girl behind him, still watching the thing while it appeared to be amused by his action, and stood firmly in place.
Because he didn't know what has happened to the spirits of the dead, he was powerless to stop such things no matter how strong he got, which hurt his heart every time it happened. Seeing this masked thing being the cause, there was no way in Hell he'll let it get its hands on the little girl, even if it cost him his life.
"Hey ugly, there's no way I'll let you have this girl! If you want her that badly, you have to get through me!" Ichigo declared, a scowl forming on his face as he glared at this monster. It then roared at him and charged at the orange haired teen while opening its mouth, as if to bite him. Even as his arm shook, knowing he was going to die protecting someone, in the end, made him feel pride that he was trying to accomplish this impossible task.
Suddenly, black energy outlined with red surrounded the orange haired teen, blocking the Hollow's advance dead in its tracks.
'What the hell?' Ichigo thought in confusion, looking at the energy surrounding his body. Extending his right hand to touch the strange energy, it all quickly rushed into his hand, taking shape into what looked like four prongs bent out to form the shape of the manji. The Hollow roared, bringing its hand towards the orange haired teen. Ichigo instinctively held out the energy in front of him. It blocked most of the force, though Ichigo was still knocked back a few feet while miraculously still standing, as he comprehended what happened.
'It blocked the blow. This is like a guard to a sword blocking attacks, but it can't be used to cut the opponent.'
Putting both hands on it for better grip, a sensation of power passed through him, building up as hope flickered in his eyes.
' I can do this.' The orange haired teen thought, a smirk appearing on his face. Annoyed by the lack of results, the Hollow brought both its hands together, bringing it down onto the annoyance with all its power. While it formed a noticeable crater when hitting the concrete floor, the black energy sent Ichigo up into the air with no harm. As it stared in shock, the prongs became bigger with two additional prongs forming as Ichigo gave a battle cry, swinging the energy in his hand and sending a spinning projectile at the stunned monster's mask, shattering it. The Hollow howled in pain before it disappeared.
Landing on top of a building, the orange haired teen was able to stay clear from the crowding people, tying to figure out what had happen. Ichigo then watched in amazement as the energy in his right hand compressed and disappeared before forming into his charm.
"…Even when you're not here, you're protecting me." Ichigo whispered, a small glad smile appearing on his face as he caressed the charm. With this power, maybe he can protect the people he cares for…
Unknown Location:
"…How unexpected."
Watching what had transpired in the World of the Living from a screen was a mild featured man, with brown scholarly hair and eyes wearing square glasses. He wore the standard Shinigami uniform with a Captain's haori with the kanji for five on his back, revealed it to be none other then Aizen Sosuke, mastermind and undercover Captain of the Fifth Squad in Soul Society. While he had ordered that Hollow to kill a spirit Ichigo Kurosaki knew, he hadn't expected for the boy to be by the spirit targeted. Watching the scene play out, he vaguely wondered if the orange haired teen's Shinigami powers would awaken early. To his disappointment, the power Ichigo awoken was Fullbring, not Shinigami powers like he had planned.
Another person watching the screen appeared to be a mid twenty-year-old male, unusually thin and tall with very sharp features and silver hair atop his head. His eyes were narrowed to slits, going with a foxy grin on his face. It was Gin Ichimaru, also an undercover Captain of the Third Squad. He turned to Aizen, amusement in his voice when he spoke.
"Interesting, he unlocks the power the first Substitute Shinigami has to resort to. They seem alike in a way, Aizen-taicho." He said in a joking manner. When no response came, Gin decided to ask what was going to happen now. All the while wondering what was going through the mind of the undercover mastermind.
"Are you going to get rid of Ichigo's Fullbring so that your plans can get back on course?"
"…There's no need." Aizen finally spoke, surprising Gin enough to reveal his sky blue eyes, blinking at the answer given to him.
Aizen decided to explain as got up, walking out of the room. "He gained Fullbring for a reason, most likely the Hogyoku's doing. While Fullbringers have a set of power they can gain once it is complete, Ichigo Kurosaki has his spare dormant Shinigami powers to enhance it, even effecting his Fullbring enough to be formidable to Captain class Shinigami once it's on the verge to being complete. All that is needed is for him is to get enough Reiatsu to be of any challenge for my plans to succeed. If I don't find his progress in a favorable direction, I'll personally make sure he get his Shinigami powers."
"Scary." Gin commented, his foxy smile growing bigger as they made their way back to their divisions.
One Year Later:
It was silent; the dark night of Karakura Town lighted only by the twenty-four hour businesses from the small amount of people out for their late night jobs. On top of a tall building, watching over the town was the fifteen-year-old Ichigo Kurosaki, scowl on his face as he sensed for any nearby creatures to give him a warm up. He had a black jacket on, a hood over his head with three white lines on top his head, another white mark resembling a eye that covered his left eye, and three more white lines below that with a red interior; it also had white X on his left sleeve on the upper arm.[1] Under that was a white dress shirt, and finishing the look were dark blue jeans, black leather gloves , the charm on his belt loop, and white and black sport shoes.
Sensing a disturbance, he quickly removed his hood, run his gloved hand through his hair, green light moving across it. Instantly changing the color from orange to black and making it slightly longer than before. Putting the hood back on, a green light appeared around his feet as he jumped, the same energy accelerating him in the air to the targeted location.
Finding out about this power he gained a year ago, he trained in secret to understand the things he can do. There were a variety of different things, actually. From what he understood, while people have a certain amount of spiritual power, all inanimate objects had some also, and he can manipulate the objects to an extent on how he understood their workings. Like making the asphalt and concrete more elastic for example, or to even use the air to help accelerate his movements. He even found away to change his hair color, but that was just to make sure people didn't recognize him if they ever caught a glimpse of his orange hair and connect it to him once they see him again.
There were a few major things he had tried to pull off, but it wasn't really practical in battle unless the right condition were there; one such event almost killed him.
Reaching Tsubakidai Park, Ichigo landed on a tree in the middle of the seemingly abandoned park, hiding his spiritual power from any other thing that could sense it. It was something he first learned once he got his powers; finding out those masked creatures could sense his location and endanger his family and friends if he didn't do anything about it. The wait was short, and he soon found three of the masked creatures toying with a terrified adult couple spirits, finding amusement with their prey.
"Tsuba of Bonds." Ichigo muttered, the four black prongs with red outlined energy appearing in his right hand. This was the only thing he could use as a real weapon, figuring the fondness for the charm from his mother was the cause of it. Sending out a three-pronged attack, it surprised the group of Hollows, hitting the ground in front of where there meal was.
Getting their attention, green light surrounded the temporary black haired teens feet as he launched himself at the group, kicking the middle masked creature away from its buddies. The two Hollows that weren't attacked tried to hit the hooded figure with their claws, but their attacks bounced off three-prongs of energy in both the teens hands. Using the same energy, Ichigo launched the propeller-like blasts in his hands; hitting the two Hollows mask and made their existence disappear.
Pissed off, the last Hollow tried to get the hooded teen from behind, prepared to bite him in half. Ichigo quickly sidestep it, and turned in with a knee to the Hollow's gut. Next, the temporary black haired teen used the shoulder of the masked creature as support to kick the back of his opponent's neck, landing on the creatures shoulders and used his fists to disorient the Hollow's head.
For the last combo, Ichigo used his foe's shoulders as leverage again to jump in the air, going in before the masked monster could regain its bearings with an enhanced axe kick while using the air to gain more speed, and landed a devastating blow on the Hollow's head. Annihilating it entirely as the kick made a small crater in the ground. Finished with the workout, the hooded teen left the scene as the spirits watched in awe at the skills displayed.
Once in a more secluded area, Ichigo removed the hood, changed his hair back to normal, and made his way home. Still having thirty minutes until dinner was ready.
Minamikawase District:
In another part of Karakura Town, someone else was looking over the area while standing on top of a street lamp. It appeared to be a short female, that was dressed in black Shinigami uniform and carrying a sword on her hip. Her purple eyes where cold and calculating, surveying the area.
"I see. I sense some powerful souls."
With that, she jumped into the air, going to the area she sensed the strong Reiatsu.
(Author Notes)
[1] Please refer to the Bleach beginning color page on Chapter 483 for a better description.