One of a Kind
Well that was definitely an interesting first chapter response to this story. I think the only other story I have that got a better response was the Protector's Temptation. I'm thinking of a name to give Ichigo's hollow other than the common Hichigo, Ogichi etc. but I haven't settled on one just yet. Anyway read on and enjoy as always.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any associated intellectual property mentioned within.
"Normal Speech"
'Inner Speech/Thoughts'
"Kido/Zanpakuto/Quincy Techniques"
"Zanpakuto Speech"
"Hollow Speech"
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Chapter 1:
Sighing out loud as his hollow and Senbonzakura continued to argue; Ichigo slowly rubbed small circles around his temples with his fingers, trying to stave off the coming headache. As he opened his mouth to intervene in their argument though, the sky darkened overhead, despite the fact that it was only sometime in the afternoon moments ago. Hearing the silence that followed, he looked down to see the two spirits staring around in equal confusion. Feeling a slight tingle on the edge of his senses, he turned towards it and started to make his way forward, the spirits dissipating and heading back into his inner world.
Leaping into the air so that he could use flash step, he soon found himself standing a foot above the treeline overlooking a park, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to see if he was hallucinating or not. Crouched down on his knees was a teenage boy, probably a year or two younger than him, with dark brown hair blood pouring from a wound to his stomach.
Looking across from the boy, he could see a woman with jet black hair and angel-like wings wearing what appeared to be a leather BDSM outfit, seated on the edge of the fountain in front of the boy.
"Tch, Kon would love this world if this is what the...girls run around in," his hollow commented, while Senbonzakura scoffed in the background.
"Byakuya would never stand for such a display, much less so if anyone dared imagine Rukia in such an…ensemble," the zanpakuto added, making Ichigo roll his eyes at what Byakuya would really do if anyone caught a glimpse of Rukia dressed like that.
Hearing her faintly gloating about how if he wanted to blame anyone for his situation, that he should blame God for placing that Sacred Gear within him, Ichigo frowned as his mind raced through his choices, all the while wondering just what in the hell was a Sacred Gear.
'He's too far gone for me to save him, but at the very least I suppose I should wait here and send his soul on. Then again I don't even know whether he'll even turn into a ghost and need me to help him,' Ichigo thought as he watched the woman disappear in a whirl of feathers.
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'It's red…just like her hair,' Issei Hyoudou thought as he lay on his back, staring at his bloodied hand. Already he could feel his head spinning and the blood around him soaking into his clothing…his blood. Hearing faint footsteps to his right, he turned his head ever so slightly and saw a teenager with bright orange hair and a fierce scowl on his face walking towards him. The most curious thing about the teen though, was the black gi with a red strap wound over his shoulder and black hakama he wore. Focusing as best he could, his eyes widened in fear at the sword sheathed at his waist. Watching the teen kneel down a foot away from him, he could make out the top of a large cross like tattoo on the teen's chest and forearms, while smaller black tattoos covered the back and knuckles of his hand.
"I'll try to make your passing as painless as possible," Ichigo told him, causing Issei's brain to go into overdrive at the countless implications his words had.
'Pass on…painless? Is he here to send me to heaven? Or maybe hell? But I don't want to leave yet,' he thought morosely, feeling his heartbeat begin to slow. 'If I could have any last wish, I wish that I could at least die in the arms of a girl like Rias-senpai,' he thought, watching as Ichigo drew Senbonzakura from his sheath. As his thought trailed off though, the slip of paper he had been given earlier that day acquired a bright red glow and flew out of his pocket, surprising Ichigo as he stepped back and watched as it hovered above him, a red demonic circle spreading from it.
'Well this is new,' he thought as he stood with his sword at the ready, watching as a young girl seemed to emerge from the circle, her back facing to Ichigo. Sighing as it seemed that his hollow was right, he had to supress the light blush as her magenta skirt flared in the slight breeze, revealing her black lace panties. Tearing his gaze from her shapely rear, he could see that she had shocking red-hair that went down to her thighs and seemed to be wearing a black corset and shoulder-cape; over a white shirt with black stripes and wore white ankle-length socks with brown shoes.
"Did you call me?" she asked Issei and Ichigo stumbled for a moment wondering if she was the equivalent to a soul reaper in this world, a thought that seemed to gain validity as a pair of wings sprouted from her back. "If you're dying, then I'll take you anyway. You will devote your life to me," she said with a smirk, just as Issei's closed and he breathed his last breath.
Reaching into the pocket of her skirt, she pulled out several chess pieces from what Ichigo could see and began to peruse each of them, until she finally seemed to settle on the pawns. Placing one on his chest, they both watched as absolutely nothing happened. Cocking her head to the side, Rias continued to place a single pawn on his chest, watching as his body remained stubbornly still. When the final pawn was placed though, the demonic circle from earlier reappeared underneath him and began to spin slowly underneath him.
Smiling to herself, Rias stood and held her arms out to the sides and began to speak. "I, Rias Gremory, hereby order you: Heed me, Issei Hyoudou. Bring your soul back to this world, and become my servant demon. You shall become my Pawn and rejoice in your newfound life!" As she finished speaking his body acquired a light red glow, before it quickly faded away. To Ichigo's surprise though, Issei's wounds seemed to have healed and his chest rose and fell with a steady beat.
Mentally patting herself on the back for finding a worthy pawn in her mind, Rias's eyes widened in surprise as she felt a conflicted presence behind her. Spinning on the spot, she found Ichigo staring at her with his usual scowl on his face.
"I take it you're not the one responsible for the dead in this world then," he stated in a gruff tone, while Rias stared at him curiously. She could tell that he was no angel, fallen angel or devil at a glance, but that still didn't answer her question as to why he felt so similar to both an angel and a devil. Seeing the edge of his tattoo and a hint of his toned chest, she did blush slightly, before shaking her head and turning back to the business at hand.
"I'm sorry, but who are you?" she asked, while Ichigo's frown deepened slightly.
"Generally I would think that you would give me your name, before asking for mine," he said with a slightly chiding tone, causing her to pout at him. "But you did just say your name out loud doing…whatever it was you were doing. As for my name, it's Ichigo Kurosaki."
"I'm sorry that was rude of me. Rias Gremory," she said sweetly with a small smile, holding her hand out to him, which he reached out to shake after a second. As they shook hands though, a mild shock ran through their hands, forcing them to jerk their hands away from the contact. 'That…that felt like I was touching a light lance, but at the same time it felt like another devil's raw energy,' she thought with a frown.
"Sorry about that, I'm afraid that I'm not from around here and my powers have sometimes had a mind of their own," he said apologetically as he flexed his fingers to make sure that they were still fine. "Out of curiosity, do you know where we are?"
Frowning at his question, she nevertheless replied. "We're currently standing in one of the parks that litter Tokyo," she explained, while Ichigo's eyes widened in surprise "I would tell you its name, but I unfortunately do not know it."
Hearing her words, but disregarding them for now, Ichigo looked in the direction that he knew that he would have to travel in order to reach Karakura Town, his thoughts on how long it would take him to flash step there, or whether he should just hitch a ride on a train. Before he could consider either option though, he heard Rias cough politely, drawing his attention to her again.
"If you don't mind, do you think that you could help me get him home?" she asked, gesturing at Issei's prone form.
Debating whether to just leave her alone to do it herself, Ichigo sighed and nodded, walking over and lifting Issei onto his shoulder. "Where to?" he asked her, watching perplexed as she walked over to him and grabbed his free hand, surprised that the mild shock seemed somewhat weaker than before. Freezing as a circle appeared below them, Ichigo groaned as they were swallowed by it, disappearing from the park and reappearing in a plain looking bedroom. "You know, you could have at least warned me before you did that," he muttered as she giggled at him.
"Just set him down on the bed please," she said as she walked over to the nearby closet and started to rummage through it, taking care not to be too intrusive. Stepping back from the bed after laying Issei down, Ichigo frowned as Rias stepped up to him and started to disrobe the unconscious boy.
"Do you even know the guy?" he asked as she unbuttoned his pants, pulling them down of his legs and dumping it in the corner of the room.
"Hmm? Well I've seen him around at school, but other than that no, not really," she answered with a smile, yanking his shirt over his head and replacing it with a plain white t-shirt. "Well now that, that's done, is there anything I can do to thank you for your help?"
"Well…I don't suppose you have a phone I could use do you?" he asked, while she just stared at him incredulously. "What? It's not like I'm about to ask for anything like that!" he said as his scowl deepened, causing her to giggle at him again.
"Well I do, but not here," she said as she walked towards him again and grabbed his wrist. "We'll be leaving now," she said with a smirk, while he scoffed as the already familiar demonic circle appeared under them.
When the world finally stopped spinning for Ichigo, he found himself standing in the middle of a large, dark lounge with two couches across from one another with a coffee table in between them. Hearing a match being struck, he looked over his shoulder to see Rias at a desk, lighting a candle that gave off a muted glow.
"Welcome to the Occult Research Club's Headquarters," she said with pride. "I spend most of my time here, along with my other friends." Reaching into one of the drawers, she pulled out a cell phone and tossed it towards him.
Catching it and nodding his head in thanks, he quickly dialled the number for the Kurosaki clinic and held it to his ear. Instead of the normal dialling tone though, his body tensed up as an automated message was played.
"We're sorry, but the number you have dialled does not exist. Please…"
Not waiting to hear the rest of the message, he ended the call quickly and tried again, getting the same damn message again. Scowling fiercely, he quickly ran through the list of numbers he had in his head, Mizuiro, Orihime, Chad, Tatsuki, Keigo, only to find that each time the number didn't seem to exist in this world. Letting the phone slip through his fingertips, he was barely aware of the dull clack it made as it struck his foot, while he slumped back onto one of the couches in the room.
"Ichigo?" Rias asked in confusion, walking over and picking up the phone, before resting her hand on his knee as she crouched down next to him, seeing a haunted expression within his dark brown eyes. "What's wrong, were they all engaged or something?"
"No…" he whispered in a hoarse voice. "They simply didn't exist."
"They didn't exist?" she asked in confusion, but was completely ignored by Ichigo as he remembered the Spirit King's words when he asked if the worlds were anything like Earth.
"Oh if only it were that simple Kurosaki," the King said with a slight chuckle. "I do believe that I will be amused when I check in on you every now and then."
'Bastard!' he swore in his mind. 'He dumped me on an Earth where everything I remember simply doesn't exist! Is this his idea of a joke?!'
"You can curse the King all you want Kingy, but the girl's getting anxious and has been trying to get your attention for a few minutes now," his hollow commented, dragging Ichigo back to reality.
"What?" he asked in an annoyed tone, while Rias stood up with a huff and gave him a mild glare, making him want to chuckle if only a bit at her.
"Honestly, I lend you my phone and after you use it, you go all depressed and downtrodden on me, you ask me 'what'? Look, let's start with where you came from. So far all I know is your name and that you like to dress up and have a sword sheathed at your side," she said in exasperation.
"Dress up?!" he sputtered indignantly, leaping to his feet and towering over her. "This uniform came with the job!" Seeing her flinch and take a step back, he took a few calming breaths, before pinching the bridge of his nose and sinking back into the couch. "Look I'm sorry about that. I'm just a little…stressed. For your information I do normally dress up like a normal person, but that was in my other form. As for where I came from, well that's a long story."
XXX
"Wow, that's just…wow," Rias trailed off from her spot on the couch next to Ichigo, almost half an hour later, Ichigo nodding his head next to her.
"So basically there's a King of the Universe out there and he keeps the balance of the worlds in check and you just so happen to possess this limitless store of energy, which he then plans on using to restore the balance to whatever world he sends you to," she said, while Ichigo was more surprised that she had said it all in one breath.
"But to top it all off, you're saying that you used to live in Japan too, except that it seems that there are multiple worlds called Earth and here neither you, nor your friends and family exist," she continued, seeing him nod his head again.
"Messed up isn't it?" he commented, leaning his head back and sighing again. He really needed to stop doing that as it was getting on his nerves. He was done with being so…mopey. Then again some would argue that he was well within his rights to mope after everything he had been through in the last twenty four hours. I mean sure he wanted his powers back, but was all this pain really worth having them back. Feeling a tingling from his cheek, he turned back to Rias, watching as she repeatedly prodded him with her finger. "What are you doing?"
"Well you seem to slip off into your own little world a lot, and it seems that the only way to even get you to come back is to trigger that shock," she teased him. "Although I must admit that it is strange that simply coming into contact with your skin would cause such a reaction. Akeno probably won't be able to keep her hands off you if she ever meets you."
"I'm guessing Akeno's one of your friends," he mumbled, half curious about why she would love the minor shock that came with touching him and half dreading the answer. "Why don't you tell me exactly what you are though, or what that other woman was? In fact could you just tell me what's going on, on this Earth?"
"Well…as for what I am, I would be known as a devil. We generally live in the Underworld where we are governed by the Four Great Satans. Making their home in the Underworld with us are the fallen angels, angels which have been cast out from Heaven for whatever crime they committed. I'm guessing the woman you saw was the fallen angel that we were watching. And finally we have the angels who make their home in Heaven. Long ago there was a war between the three factions, claiming countless lives on all sides and even now it is not officially over, but a ceasefire of sorts has been agreed upon."
"And where do you stand in all this," he asked, vaguely gesturing around.
"I'm just a girl living her life and having fun while I'm at it. Now shush there's still more to tell you," she said with a smile as she went on to explain what a devil's basic powers were, what a peerage was and how she could 'resurrect' recently deceased or dying souls to become 'servants' of her own. By the end of her explanation though, she noticed he had his eyes closed and was taking slow, steady breaths. Before she could rouse him and admonish him for sleeping through her explanation, his hand reached out and grabbed her wrist, holding it in place.
"I haven't fallen asleep yet," he whispered, "but this is a lot for me to take in at the moment."
"I understand," she said as he let go of her hand and contented herself with just watching him think for now. 'He's certainly different,' she thought with a smile on her face as his eyelids flickered and his brow furrowed. 'If I was ripped away from my friends and family…no I don't think I could stay calm and act like it wasn't bothering me. He hasn't mentioned much in the way of his powers though, but his aura…it reminds me of the time that Sirzechs and Ajuka came home to see father and the sheer aura of indomitably they radiated. And the way he reacted moments ago, it's almost as if he's locked away his power and it's just waiting to break free.' Hearing him stand, she looked up at him in surprise.
"Thanks for your help Gremory-san, but I think it's time I get going," he said as he started to walk towards the door.
"What will you do now then?" she asked, causing him to pause with his hand on the doorknob.
"Wait and see I guess," he said with a shrug. "For now it seems that this world doesn't have the problems that mine did and so I don't need to do much at all."
"Well…why don't you stay here then? The building is large enough for me and my friends and I'm sure that we can prepare a room for you."
"What would you want in return?" he asked suspiciously, his recent experience with Xcution making him wonder what the catch was.
"Not much I can assure you, just odd things here and there."
'What do you guys think?' Ichigo asked the two spirits that resided within him.
"What do you want me to say King? As far as we know there's nothing here for us to do and if she's so willing to give us space, then take it. Plus you could just kill her like you did that Xcution guy if she tries anything on you."
"I must agree with the hollow Kurosaki. For now we need somewhere to stay and she has proved an ally to us so far. Perhaps once we know more of this world and the creatures that inhabit it, then we decide to go off on our own."
"Well, I guess so long as it's nothing too bad I can help you with whatever you need," he told her, seeing a wide smile spread across her face as she stood up.
"Great I can just tell that you're going to enjoy it here," she said in sing-song tone, looping her arm around his and dragging him out of the door, while he felt a shiver of fear run down his spine.
"Uh King…why's it snowing in here all of a sudden?"
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So he's in the DxD world for now an idea that I've touched on before, but went in a completely different direction to this. Anyway I think I might treat you guys to maybe one or two more chapters of this, before I get back to the Protector's Temptation. Hmm…I wonder how that Ichigo would do here. Ah well till next time guys and girls.