A/N: So this is just something I thought of while trying to write a chapter in my other fic, Not Another Bleach Fic. I sorta lost focus and started reading some Ichig-becomes-a-Hollow fics, and I wondered what might happen if that particular scenario happpened during my own timeline in NABF. That errant thought turned into a rabid plot bunny that gnawed away at my concentration until it forced me to write this...you can blame pot for this one. The first chapter will be the same, as well as much of the second one, so if you've already read NABF up to what I've written, then you can skip ahead a bit...otherwise, have fun!
Disclaimer: If I owned Bleach, nobody would like it, and there would be no fanfictions about it...so thank whatever high power you believe in that I don't own Bleach.
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Chapter 1: He Who Protects
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"Momma, you stay on that side of the sidwalk, so if a car splashes us, I can protect you!" proclaimed the nine-year-old, orange-haired boy confidently. His wide amber eyes looked up at his mother happily, taking in her honey-colored hair and the eyes that were so very much like his own.
Kurosaki Masaki smiled at her son's words. "You certainly live up to your name, Ichigo, my little protector," she said proudly as she adjusted the umbrella so that it shielded the both of them from the heavy downpour.
Ichigo beamed at her, and they continued the walk back home from the karate dojo he took lessons at. The sky had been gray for two days prior, but it had only begun raining a mere half-hour ago, while he was still practicing his kata safely inside.
As they walked along the Karasu River, Ichigo glanced down, curious to see how much the rain had caused it to swell.
He was surprised when his keen eyes picked out a little girl in a rain poncho standing on the grassy banks of the river, being pounded by the rain. Being the protector that he was, Ichigo shouted out a warning to her before taking off down the steep slope.
"Ichigo!" Masaki cried out, running after him.
Ichigo had made it to the small form in the rain and called to her. She turned and Ichigo found himself staring into a blank expression, devoid of any emotion at all. He heard his mother scream his name, and then the rest was a blur of rain and confusion and spurts of crimson.
When he was finally able to make sense of anything at all, he found himself lying beneath a heavy weight. He glanced down and found his mother's unmistakable hair, flecked with bits of scarlet. He tried to move her, but she was unresponsive.
"Momma?" he asked, panic rising steadily in his scrawny chest. "Mom?" He wriggled his way out from under her body, and started shaking her, even though he saw the red splotch on her blouse. He looked around, not finding the girl who he'd come out to save in the first place, and felt tears stinging his eyes.
"Help!" he cried, even as fat drops began falling from the corners of his eyes. Ichigo clenched his eyes shut while he continued to try and rouse Masaki. As he screamed out once more for aid, he felt every single drop of rain strike his small frame, each one feeling as though it weighed twenty tons.
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For several days afterward, Ichigo would sit at the spot where his mother had died, crouching near the river, trying to understand why such a tragedy could happen. After a day, he'd concluded that if he hadn't gone after that little girl, then his mother would still be alive. After two days, he would realize that his mother's death was his fault. After three days, he would sink into a depression that shouldn't be felt by a child so young.
All the while, he was being watched.
The strangest thing about this person who was watching him was that...well, it wasn't quite a person at all. In fact, one would go so far as to call this watcher a black cat with startlingly intelligent golden eyes.
Yoruichi Shihouin sat a few hundred paces away in the comfortable shade of a tree. She'd felt a sharp spike of reiatsu from the river, and had gone to investigate, only arriving in time to witness a Hollow devour the soul of Masaki Kurosaki before vanishing. Now she was staring intently at the bright-haired youth as he grieved.
After another day, a second child entered the scene. She was just as small and scrawny as the boy, except her jagged hair was just a bit longer than his and darker than pitch. At first, the small girl tried to talk to Ichigo, but he wouldn't respond. Then she got mad and started yelling, eventually kicking Ichigo off-balance. He sat there for a moment, then slowly resumed his prior position.
Finally, the girl crouched next to Ichigo and waited with him. For what, she didn't know, but maybe if she was patient, she'd find out eventually.
When darkness began to fall, Ichigo spoke. "Go away, Arisawa." His voice was hoarse, as he hadn't used it in four days, and it sounded hollow, as though someone had struck an empty canteen with a rock.
The girl had been startled when he'd spoken, as she'd been dozing off, but she quickly scrambled to her feet and pointed down at him. "What's your problem, Kurosaki-baka?" she growled at him, anger filling her eyes. "I sat here all day with you so that maybe you wouldn't be such a whiny loser all the time!"
A bit of anger laced his response. "My problem is that I got my mother killed!" He rose to his feet as he said it, and then jabbed his finger at the ground he stood on. "She died right here, on this spot, and I'm the one that caused it." As he spoke, his eyes began to fill with tears, and he blinked them away, angry and embarrassed that he'd allowed himself to cry in front of the girl who continually beat him up. Again.
"Ichigo..." Tatsuki mumbled, eyes wide. She'd known that the wonderful woman who could make her sparring partner's face explode with sunshine had passed, but she hadn't understood the circumstances behind it.
The orange-haired boy abruptly turned and crouched back down again. "Just leave me alone, Tatsuki," she heard him grumble.
Instead of heeding him, Tatsuki copied his movements, putting a tentative hand on his shoulder. "My momma's dead, too," she almost whispered to him. She heard him sniffle, and his head swiveled around, tearful amber eyes meeting saddened hazel ones.
"R-really?" he asked, his voice little more than a breath.
Tatsuki nodded, averting her eyes. "She died when I was really young. I get sad because I can't always remember her anymore. Just warmth and smiles. That's why I've always been so jealous that you have-had such a great mom that came and picked you up from karate lessons."
Ichigo contemplated this new knowledge. Now that he thought about it, he'd never seen Tatsuki's mother, as her father had always picked her up from the dojo. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, losing his mom, so long as he had someone who knew what he was feeling.
He suddenly realized what a jerk he had been to his family. Yuzu and Karin were also Masaki's children, and Dad must be really sad, too. When that thought occured to him, he knew that he had to become strong, so that he could protect them from the same fate that had befallen his mother.
Ichigo stood up, wincing as his sore muscles cramped from disuse, Tatsuki rising with him. To become strong, he needed to train with the strongest he knew...
"I need your help, Tatsuki-"
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Yoruichi watched as the pair walked off, a slow smile parting her feline lips. She'd been considering going over to snap the boy out of it before the girl had shown up, and that was fortunate for all parties involved. It also warmed her heart that her unofficial godson had at least one good friend who would come to look for him.
She gave a small sigh of sorrow at the circumstances that led to it, though. The Hollow had attacked too quickly for even Yoruichi, Goddess of Flash, to do anything to prevent it, and she'd been too far away regardless. Before his retirement to the living world, Kurosaki Isshin had been a good friend, and once she'd met Masaki, there was no way for Yoruichi to dislike the woman. Her death darkened the world significantly.
What's more, though, was the significant development of the child's spiritual pressure upon witnessing his own mother's murder. Before, his reiatsu had been nothing to be ashamed of, seeing as how he was a human, but after the incident, it had skyrocketed to the level of a rank-and-file shinigami just out of the Academy.
But the kicker had to be the fact that Ichigo's reiatsu felt-different, would be the way she'd describe it. It didn't have the particular energy signature of a shinigami, nor was it the chaotic pattern that was unique to Hollows. No, it was something...other, both and neither at the same time. Maybe it had something to do with his parentage, perhaps?
Kisuke would need to be informed of this, she decided. He'd always been fascinated by the Kurosaki children, wondering if they would be able to manifest their own powers, and the oldest of the three seemed to be well on his way to doing just that. The situation concerning his reiatsu might even be explainable.
I don't have the scientific inquisitiveness of that fruity blonde, but even I'm curious about how this'll turn out, she thought to herself as she raced across rooftops to the shoten where she resided. Life in the world of the living is certainly going to get interesting in the next few years.
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By the time Ichigo and Tatsuki made it to the Kurosaki's home, which also served as Kurosaki Isshin's private practice, night had fallen. As soon as he was inside, Ichigo was assaulted by his fraternal twin sisters, Yuzu and Karin. Yuzu had honey-blonde hair very similar to their mother's, while Karin's hair was black. Isshin himself was a tall man with strong features, hair like night, and a stubble-chased jaw.
"Ichi-nii!" they yelled in tandem, clamping themselves to his arms like a pair of limpets, one with tears flowing freely, while the other's eyes were shut tightly to try and stave off the waterworks.
"Where were you?" Karin demanded as soon as she backed away, very nearly glaring at her older brother.
Yuzu was still sniffling as she said, "We were so worried about you, Ichi-nii. We thought you might've-" She trailed off as she began crying again.
Ichigo felt his heart break just a little more, and his resolve to become strong enough to protect these two solidified. He put a hand on each of his sisters' shoulders and pulled them into an embrace. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I'm so sorry..."
He was surprised when he felt another pair of arms encircle them and looked up to find Tatsuki looking at him with sorrowful, understanding eyes. Ichigo's eyes threatened to spill over with sadness, but he reigned in his emotions and blinked away the tears. He had to be strong; he had to be hard...
He had to protect.