Edit: I'm aware second person is not allowed here, but...if it's only for one or two chapters, is it okay? I received a review saying that it's fine, but I came across a few stories that got reported for using second person, so...
Soul Links 0
The Fool
The first time he realised that something was peculiar, it was the first time he heard a strange voice resonating in his head.
Ichigo shrugged it off, but it didn't stop anything.
That morning, he woke up from a distant dream - it was something about an obsession with blue and a weird dude with a long nose - and was not in the best of moods, but he still got out of bed to get ready for school anyway.
His chest had felt...heavy. Yet, his shoulders, light, as if a load had been taken off them. It was hard to explain, and Ichigo was never good with explaining; whenever he tried to, the other party would exhaust all means to misunderstand his intentions, so he'd rather not explain anything from then on.
Everything had been normal. In the morning, at least. When he reached school, something told him that the day would not be as average as he expected.
Average, he would've snorted. As if my life had been 'average' from the start.
He had no idea how wrong, and right, he had been, and simply waved hi to everyone before settling down in his seat.
For a reason he could not, and did not want to, explain, he suddenly felt as if he had been presented with choices during lessons - whether to sleep, or not to sleep - and they seemingly had a strong impact on how well he would do in school then. It was weird, to say the least, but he wasn't complaining. If anything, he found it rather convenient.
When school ended, Ichigo realised it.
Inoue had called out to him, and made a direct request for him to meet up at the library as soon as he was done with lunch. He agreed without hesitation - his head nodded before he knew it - and immediately took off to get something to fill his stomach. The strawberry normally didn't get that hungry unless he had fought a string of hollows without resting, and it hadn't exactly been him in person who was hungry. It was more like something in his head told him to get something to eat, so he did. Odd. But then again, overcoming all odds to rescue a shinigami who had saved his family's lives before and become his friend, Ichigo didn't find anything odd any longer.
Keigo yelled, asking to hang out with him for a bit, but Ichigo brushed him off, saying he was busy. Keigo simply ran to a corner and wept while Mizuiro casually stood beside him, drinking from his juice box and keeping silent. At that moment, the orange-haired adolescent suddenly felt bad for ditching Keigo, for once. He couldn't, and didn't want to, explain why.
Later that afternoon, he turned up last at the library.
Inoue waved at him with her brightest of smiles - he hadn't seen that in a while - which brought him to the circle table where Ishida and Chad sat. He sat, as well, and their discussion began.
"I don't see why I have to be involved in this..."
Typical Ishida.
"...However, if it involves the safety of the town residents, I suppose it would only be logical to render aid."
...Okay, that was not exactly normal, but Ichigo would rather that than coming face-to-face with a stone-faced Ishida all day long.
"I...I don't want anyone in this town to die," Inoue muttered, keeping her voice low. "That's why, I..."
"...Un," Chad replied coolly.
"Kurosaki-kun feels the same way, right?"
Ichigo blinked. "Eh? Ah, well, that's obvious...?"
Ishida pushed his spectacles up the bridge of his nose, flashing his orange-haired classmate a disapproving stare. "Kurosaki, it would be much appreciated if you could get that shinigami head out of the clouds and contribute something to today's discussion. In my opinion, I don't think..." And he went on, while Ichigo droned.
It wasn't that he was doing it deliberately; it was just that something, or someone, running around in his mind was beginning to bother him, and the high schooler had no idea what or who. It couldn't have been Zangetsu, he was too old to run and leap and would rather make use of random teleportation to travel. He began to wonder if it was his other half, the hollow side to him, but he had no recollection of that bastard's voice being so low and speaking in old Japanese.
The moment he brought his palm to his temple, in an attempt to knock whoever was in there out, everyone stood in place.
Thou art I, and I art thou...
And then, Ichigo realised, a tarot card revealed itself before his widened eyes.
I know this sounds rushed, because it is. However, this story is meant to be like this. I wanted to write more, but...I have no idea how I can continue this 'introduction' event to the Fool events.
As to why I picked Ichigo for the Fool, I can put it simply, or in essay form. I have this burning desire to write every character's choice arcana in essay form -is astounded- but I'm afraid I don't have time. Many people have different interpretations of the tarot, so naturally I would have my own, but they're all rather similar to the usual interpretations, so all I can say is: Ichigo is like the Fool. He is beginning a lifelong journey and at the end of it, he will obtain something extraordinary. Along his journey, he would encounter many obstacles, and overcome them. Ichigo has unlimited potential, and with that power in his hands, he would take a leap of faith and do anything he wants to do, since it's in his brash and impulsive nature to do so. That's what I think.
