Welcome to my new multi-chapter story! I've wanted to try writing something like this for a while now. I'm new to writing something so dark themed, so you may have to bear with me in some parts. We'll just have to wait and see.
DISCLAIMER: This may be AU, but I still claim no rights to any characters. Or the concept of Bleach (even though it really isn't mentioned in this story aside from the characters).
.:To Mend Thy Shattered Heart:.
PART I: The Innocence of Life
Chapter 1: What Lies Beyond the River
It had been raining for three days now. The rain had been coming down in buckets continuously and still showed no signs of letting up. It was days like these when Ichigo just wished he could crawl into bed and remain there; wait until things got better.
No matter what people said to try and change his opinion, Ichigo hated–no, despised–the rain. All it brought was sadness and heartache. Ichigo wasn't one to think of the rain as "helping the Earth". It may help the grass and plants grow, but it did nothing for his mood.
It was on yet another dreary day such as the ones before it, when Ichigo encountered a milestone in his life. This wasn't any ordinary bump in the road either. This one would affect the lives of many, and not just his own.
---
A gunshot rang through the brisk night. Tears mingled with the rain cascading down a young girl's cheeks. The girl picked up her pace as another gunshot resounded through the skies.
An image of a small body lying on the floor in a pool of blood flashed through her head and the girl choked back a sob. Tears blinded her vision and her only thought was to keep running. She didn't know where she was headed, nor did she care. All she knew was she had to get away. Away from the pain. Away from him.
Heavy footsteps could be heard behind her. This only pushed the girl to run even faster.
"Come back here you bitch!"
The girl shook visibly at the voice. It was slightly slurred yet filled with raw anger.
"You think you can outrun me?! Go ahead and try you little tramp!"
The girl swallowed another cry as another bullet was released. She wanted to cry out for help, but seeing as she was in the middle of an abandoned area at the moment, she knew it wouldn't be any use.
She heard the footsteps grow louder behind her. She knew she was running out of energy. Her bare feet were cut and bruised. Her starved body couldn't take much more strain. And her heart… Her heart was already broken.
She risked looking behind her and squeaked in fear when she realized she was just out of reaching distance from her attacker. She stumbled as she faced forward again. She couldn't keep this up forever.
The girl quickly darted into an alley, hoping to lose the man. She pressed her back against the cold brick wall and held her breath. Slowly, and as quietly as she could, she backed into the shadows.
Just seconds later however, a tall silhouette appeared at the entrance to the alley. She hadn't lost him. He still hadn't given up.
"I know you're here," his voice traveled to her. "You should know running from me is pointless."
The girl continued backing up in the alley. She knew these streets well and knew this particular alleyway led to the river. If she could make it to the river, she knew she would be safe. The current would take her far away from here.
There were two problems wrong with her theory however. The first was that it was the middle of autumn making the river very cold and almost unbearable. The second problem was: what would she do once she got away? She knew nothing about the rest of the city she lived in. Having grown up in a poor family, she had never been out of the slums and had no knowledge of what lay beyond the river.
It was a chance she was going to have to take. Even if the trip down the river killed her, she knew she'd rather be dead than have to live another day of her life as it was now.
She looked behind her and saw the light at the end of the alley. She was just a few feet away. Then she realized how quiet it had gotten. What had happened to her pursuer? She took one more step back before she hit something.
Her heart suddenly leapt up to her throat as she let out a tiny gasp.
"Got'cha."
The girl spun around and received a punch to the jaw. Her body, weak from lack of food and sleep, fell to the ground in an instant. Before she could get up, she felt the cool metal of a gun pressed up against her forehead.
"I told you a thousand times," the man's voice said as he grabbed her by the neck of her clothes. "You can't run from me."
The girl shook in his grip as she was pressed against the wall, gun still aimed at her head.
"Please… let me go," she whispered; fear was evident in her voice.
"Let you go?" the man laughed. The laugh sounded all to fake to the girl. "What do you think I am, crazy?"
The girl didn't answer, knowing that her response would only mean a bullet through her head sooner.
The man grinned and closed in on the girl. "It doesn't matter anyway." His breath reeked of alcohol which only made the girl cringe. "Now, be a good girl, and come back home."
The man slowly lowered her to the ground. The girl looked up at the face of her follower and shivered as she stared into eyes the same as hers. It wasn't right. There was nothing similar between them.
The girl glanced behind the man and out the alley. The river was visible to her now. She then looked back up at the man, to the gun he was still holding at her head, and then back to the river again.
She heard the gun cock and push against her head harder.
"C'mon," the man growled. "Before I grow any more impatient."
The girl clenched her hands into fists. She knew what she was going to do and she could only pray that it would work. She was only going to get one chance at this. If was either fail or succeed; life or death.
"I'm not going home," she mumbled.
"What?"
"I said, I'm not going back home," she repeated, her voice growing a bit in volume. "I hate it back home!"
This just angered the man. "You will come home unless you-!"
As quick as she could, the girl snatched the gun out of the man's hand and pushed past him. Since he had been caught off guard, she had been able to run past before he could grab at her again.
"Bad move, bitch!" she heard him growl.
Before she knew it, a sharp pain surged through her left arm. She cried out in pain and tried to see what had caused this sudden onslaught of pain. Her eyes widened when she saw a small dagger sticking out from her shoulder. She quickly pulled it out and threw it to the ground.
"Damn, I was aiming for your neck."
She looked up as the man began advancing towards her again. She quickly raised the gun up to his head. Her hands were shaking too badly to have good aim, but hopefully she looked intimidating enough.
The man stopped and started laughing at this sorry attempt.
"You think you can shoot me?" he questioned. "You don't have the guts to do it. You probably don't even have the strength to pull the trigger!"
She quickly cocked the gun again and tried as hard as she could to keep her hands from shaking as she aimed it at his head.
"You want to bet on that?" she asked, forcing herself to sound tough.
She knew she didn't have the guts to kill him, even if she dreaded this man more than the devil, but she knew she wouldn't have any problem with injuring him.
The man suddenly looked serious when she saw the wild look in the small girl's eyes. Those eyes were soon closed in fear though, as her small finger pulled back the trigger.
As soon as the bullet had been fired, the girl took off running again, gun still clutched tightly in her hand. She heard the man scream in pain behind her which only coaxed the girl to run even faster and shed several tears.
She couldn't believe she had actually fired a gun. Growing up, she had dreaded violence and said she would never touch a gun. But, now… she had not only touched one, but fired one.
The girl zipped out of the alley and towards the river as quick as her small, starved body could carry her.
Without thinking, she jumped off the small ledge and into the river which had become choppy from the storms. The current immediately pulled her under and the cold began to bite at her skin.
The girl didn't struggle with the current; she just let it play with her as it pleased. She didn't care where she was going, whether it be down the river or up to the heavens, all she knew was she was safe. Safe from him.
Safe from her father.
---
Kurosaki Ichigo, student of 18 headed home from school on yet another dreary day. He had been invited over to his friend's house for the afternoon, but had denied, saying all he wanted to do was head home so he could go to bed.
With an umbrella above his head and a light jacket on to keep away the chill, he headed back to his house. He had decided to take the shortcut that took him down by the river today. Anything to get him out of this god-forsaken rain as soon as possible.
He walked at a brisk pace while trying to keep him and his book bag dry. The scowl he always wore on his face seemed larger then it usually did, giving him an intimidating look.
Ichigo looked over towards the park and saw several kids splashing around in puddles, their parents waiting patiently by a bench. Ichigo scoffed. What imbeciles. Anyone who enjoyed the rain was a fool in Ichigo's books.
Perhaps the reason for Ichigo's dislike of water was because he was scared of it; couldn't swim. That was what all the kids at school thought. He was a hydrophobe, simple as that.
That accusation only made Ichigo laugh however when he heard it. It was possibly the silliest thing he had ever heard. Hydrophobe, please. If those kids knew anything about him, they would've known that growing up as a kid, Ichigo loved to go swimming.
No. The reason Ichigo despised the rain was because on a day very similar to this one, he had lost something very important. Two things actually.
His mother and his will to live.
It had been one of those freak things you couldn't control no matter how powerful you were. It was just bad misfortune and those who were lucky enough to avoid it just couldn't understand how grateful they truly should be.
---
He had been waiting by the window that day. His sisters had stumbled up behind him, always following their big brother. Ichigo had been six at the time, his sisters only two. He was waiting for his mother to arrive home. It was Halloween night and she had promised to leave work early in order to take her kids trick-or-treating—no matter how hard it was raining.
It got later and later however, and there still hadn't been any sign of her. No headlights shining down the street. No phone call saying she'd been caught in traffic.
It had been nearly an hour when the phone startled Ichigo and his sisters. He remembered hearing his dad dashing to the phone, him gawking at whoever had been on the other line, and then finally the sound of heartbroken sobs. Ichigo had run to his father asking why he was crying.
Isshin had looked up at him and Ichigo, despite his young age, knew his next words wouldn't be good.
"Mommy's not coming home tonight," he had whispered, pulling his son into a hug.
Ichigo understood. There were several nights when his mother would arrive home late. There'd be a phone call explaining her delay and that she'd be back early the next morning. Isshin would act heartbroken each time, but Ichigo always knew when his dad was acting for he did a lot of it.
Tonight though, Isshin had completely broken down and Ichigo knew why. His mother wouldn't be coming home tonight or any other night.
His mother had died.
Ichigo didn't allow himself to cry until later that night. Isshin had calmed down and went to explain the situation as best he could to Yuzu and Karin. Ichigo had wandered upstairs into his parents' bedroom. He found the picture of his parents on their wedding day and gazed at it. He looked at his mother for a long time; at the woman he'd never see again.
It all hit Ichigo in one moment like a ton of bricks. No more lullaby's at bedtime, no more staying up late waiting for Santa, no more lunches made by her for school, no more helping her bake cookies. No more period.
Letting out a raw cry of pain, Ichigo grabbed the picture and hurled it at the wall. The glass frame shattered on contact and fell to the floor. Ichigo collapsed in a heap and let all his pent up emotions out. He cried out his sadness, his anger and his feeling of betrayal. Even though Ichigo understood what death was, back then he didn't understand that there had been nothing his mother could have done to avoid it. Therefore, Ichigo felt a sense of betrayal. Why would his mother leave them like that? Why would his mother leave him? Did she not love them anymore?
That same day, not only had his mother died, but Ichigo had as well.
---
Coming back from his thoughts, Ichigo could feel traces of tears built up in his eyes. He blinked them back and swallowed a sob. He wouldn't allow himself to cry anymore. He was past that point. The day his mother died, Ichigo had lost all of himself, leaving just an empty shell of what used to be. There were no more smiles, no more laughter. He didn't blame his mother anymore, he knew better now. Now, he blamed the drunk bastard that had been behind the wheel of the semi that had run his mother over.
Having been so caught up in his thoughts, Ichigo had almost failed to notice what could have been a tragic situation. Glancing back at what he had dismissed seconds before as a log or a pile of trash, Ichigo noticed that in was in fact a human. A small girl.
Older brother instincts kicking in, Ichigo threw his umbrella and book bag to the ground and slid down the muddy hill to the river bank. He ran over to the motionless form and Ichigo confirmed his fears that it was indeed a body.
He knelt down beside her and looked up and down the river. Where could she have come from? He noticed the river's current was traveling south, so Ichigo figured she must've come from up north.
He was curious as to how the girl got to be in the river in the first place. Surely she hadn't been going for a swim? It was autumn for Pete's sake!
Ichigo looked back down at the girl and noticed another thing: she was as skinny as a stick. Her skin was a sickly white color and Ichigo could see a few bruises around her wrists and shoulders. He carefully turned her over and grimaced at the sight.
Both her eyes were swollen and she had even more bruises covering her front. There was a dry trail of blood starting from up in her dark mess of hair and trailing down her face to stop at another cut on her cheek. Her lips were blue from the cold and Ichigo could only pray she was still alive.
Being the son of a doctor, Ichigo placed two fingers on her throat and two on one of her wrists. He found a pulse. It was slow and heavy, but it was there nonetheless.
He quickly pulled out his phone and called his father. Once Isshin was on the line, Ichigo explained the situation. He was told to remain there and keep the girl alive. His dad was on his way.
After he had hung up, Ichigo went back to studying the girl. Ichigo thought she was probably only a few years younger then he was, but because of her frail state, he wasn't really sure. He went ahead and examined the rest of her body that he could see, so when Isshin got here, he wouldn't have to.
Ichigo was staring at what looked to be cuts on her wrists and he figured she must have attempted suicide at some point. The thought made Ichigo's stomach lurch, not only because of the thoughts of what this girl had been through running through his head, but also because he too had attempted suicide several years after his mother's death.
A wave splashed up against him and when it pulled away, it left something cool resting against Ichigo's leg. He looked down and inhaled when he saw it was a gun that was moving against him.
It looked to be a .9 mm but he couldn't tell if it was loaded or not. Ichigo had only touched one gun in his life and that had been a shotgun. He had been helping his dad with a hurt hunter in their clinic back home once and had been shown by his father how to disarm it.
Ichigo wasn't sure how similar shotguns and .9 mms were so he carefully moved it aside and waited for his dad to deal with it.
Ichigo wasn't sure if the gun was connected to the girl or not. If it was, he was sure she had only been carrying it for self defense. She didn't look like the kind of person who liked the use of weapons.
Still not seeing his dad anywhere around, Ichigo decided to try and wake her up. He and his dad would need answers only she could give them.
"Hey," he whispered, giving her a gentle shake. "Can you hear me?"
She remained still. Ichigo knitted his brows together and tried again. This time, he received a cough in return.
Filled with a newfound hope, he kept trying.
"Hey, girl," he said.
There was a flutter of eyelids and Ichigo found himself staring into what would have been the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen had it not been for their lack of life. They had turned a dull dark blue, but Ichigo noticed traces of violet hiding in there somewhere.
Ichigo saw the girl look up at him and her eyes immediately widened. He could see them begin to water, and the girl drew in a sharp breath.
"Stay away from me please," she whispered so soft Ichigo barely caught it.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Ichigo told her. "I'm here to help you."
The girl gave him a look that made Ichigo's heart shake. She looked mistrusting and scared, like she didn't even know who she was herself.
"He's… he's still after me…"
Ichigo raised one of his eyebrows. What was she talking about? Someone was after her? He looked around in all directions and could only see his father now approaching.
"No one's after you," he tried to reason with her. "The only one around right now is me."
"N-no," she whispered. "He's coming… he's… trying to kill me."
Her words only made Ichigo fret even more about her. It could be just her unstable state talking, but Ichigo still couldn't rule out the possibility that someone had indeed been after her. If so, it would explain the presence of the gun.
He brought it into her view. "Is this yours?" he asked.
The sight of it seemed to frighten her even more, for she started breathing faster and squirming.
"G-get it away!" she whispered still, although it did have a bit more volume. "Don't hurt me please!"
Ichigo quickly hid the gun. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise," he tried calming her. "You're safe now." He looked up at his rapidly approaching dad. "Can you tell me your name?"
The girl only shook once more. The look of untrust and fear was still burning in her eyes. She didn't say anything.
Ichigo let out a soft sigh. His dad ran up to him, first aid kit in hand. The girl heard him approaching and started freaking out again.
"Sshhh," Ichigo told her. "It's only my dad. He's going to help you." He gave her a small smile, doing his best to calm her. "Just like I am."
Isshin approached slower when he noticed he had frightened her. He knelt down on the other side of her and the girl's eyes began darting back and forth between the two men.
"How long has she been like this?" Isshin asked.
"I've been here with her for ten minutes, but after that I can't say," Ichigo replied. He looked at his dad. "She keeps saying someone's after her and she wouldn't tell me her name." He reached for the gun again so his dad could see. When he reached over to give it to him, the girl shut her eyes tight and began to cry. "I… I also found this with her. I think it has something to do with her because she's… having a strong reaction to it," he explained while looking down at the pitiful sight before them.
Isshin looked her over carefully. "All these cuts tell me she didn't get them all at once. Some are old, some new, some merely scars. Where ever she came from must've been like Hell for her."
Ichigo said nothing and looked down the river. After a while, he looked back to his dad who was now trying to calm her down.
"You think she could be from that poor village down the river?" he asked. "It would explain her tattered clothes." It was true, for the girl was only dressed in a torn white dress. She also had no shoes on.
"It's a possibility," Isshin agreed. "But for now, we should get her back to the clinic. I can't dress her wounds here."
"Okay," Ichigo said. "You go on ahead and I'll carry her."
Isshin nodded and gathered up his supplies before standing up. Ichigo looked back down at the girl who was now staring up at Ichigo with big fearful eyes.
"It's going to be alright, okay?" he whispered to her. "We're going to help you. You don't need to be afraid of us."
He slowly slid his hands under her as to not startle her. She was watching him the entire time he picked her up. Even though he had picked her up as gently as he could, the girl still tensed immediately after Ichigo had her in his grasp. This only caused him to wince.
Ichigo held her carefully, doing his best not to disturb her injuries. When he looked back down at her, she was staring at him again, her dull blue eyes seemingly digging into his amber ones as though she was trying to draw out why they were helping her. He gave her a soft smile before slowly making his way to the ambulance his dad had brought. The girl said nothing and only continued to whimper as she clung onto Ichigo's shirt.
Ichigo began to fret when he noticed how light she was. It seemed like he was carrying an infant, not a young girl. She seemed so fragile, Ichigo was afraid if he held her much longer she'd shatter in his hands.
He placed her in the back of the ambulance and crawled in with her. He didn't want to leave her alone now, in fear that she'd become afraid again. Isshin soon crawled into the back as well just long enough to give her an injection. Ichigo had to hold her down once she caught sight of the needle and she wouldn't stop screaming at them to leave her alone. Ichigo felt his heart rip more and more each time he heard her scream. He didn't even want to imagine what had happened to this girl to make her so afraid of everything. Afraid of life. Right then and there, Ichigo vowed to stay by her side until she was well and even after that. He wanted to make sure nothing like this ever happened to her again. No one deserved this, especially a girl as young as she.
Once Isshin had given her the injection, he explained it would put her to sleep on their way home so he could dress her wounds easily at home. He then hopped out from the back and got in the front seat. Turning on the emergency siren, they were soon speeding back home.
The whole way home, Ichigo watched the girl he had sworn to protect. He didn't know who she was, he didn't know where she was from, but already, he felt some kind of connection with her. He was willing to help her with his whole being. He knew getting her to open up to him would take some time. He didn't blame her though; although he did feel as though it was a big step of trust just getting her into the ambulance.
Ichigo had no idea what kind of obstacles lay before him or this girl, but he was willing to charge right at them and defeat every evil threat until this girl was safe from everything that had hurt her before.
He wouldn't let her down.
Review and constructive criticism are highly appreciated since this genre is new to me. Please don't be afraid to speak your mind, but flames aren't welcome. They won't help me improve my writing in any way.