Disclaimer: I do not own Ichigo or Bleach or any anime for that matter.
Enjoy.
Ichigo stepped out of his house, cold pop tart in hand, just in time to see his two sisters, Yuzu and Karin, round the corner onto the main road. Kon bounced on the ground after leaping from the roof, the arrancar landing smoothly beside him. Ichigo met his formerly dead counterpart's eyes steadily, taking a bite of the frosting covered strawberry pastry.
The blue haired demon had become an odd friend over the past three years. After the return from Hueco Mundo they had become frequent training partners. Their strengths were the only ones even close to each other and Grimmjow never truly cared about Aizen's goals to begin with. Ichigo reflected it was much like his battle with Kisame. They had fought to near death and had returned from that black brink as a sort of friend.
The Vizard's had welcomed Grimmjow, they did give him his space, but he was free to walk among them as a type of 'honorary' Vizard. Afterall, the Arrancar and Vizard are only a hop and a skip away from similar. Then there was the way Chad looked up to Grimmjow as a type of mentor. It seemed the closer one was to a hollow the more you drew friends from the same ilk.
Ishida was still, well, an outcast, but he was welcome in Ichigo's mind. This was another of those things he would never breathe aloud.
The strangest occurrence in the past three years, however, had be Tatsuki. She had utterly freaked out when Ichigo had broken the news to her of what happened to Orihime. The real news, not some made up story to shield her from the truth. The women's boxing champ of Japan had wiped the floor with Ichigo. She had beaten him black and blue and halfway across town shouting in her sorrow. He still felt his joints swell whenever a bad storm was coming. Then the Arrancar did something that Ichigo never would have expected, Grimmjow comforted her.
When Tatsuki finally didn't have enough will in her to hurt Ichigo after nearly crippling him, Grimmjow had gone to her and held her as she wept. Ichigo lay there twitching on the ground and all he could do was thank Grimmjow for being able to do what he couldn't for his dear friend, his nawakama.
From there Tatsuki had refused to talk to Ichigo unless absolutely necessary, and that had only been the one time she had asked for some one else who could help her train her powers. Chad had forced her to come to him.
In the end Youroichi had taken her overseas, not just training her physical prowess, but her spiritual abilities as well. From time to time Ichigo received word of them through the grapevine of Urahara's shop, but that was all.
Ichigo nodded to the Arrancar and spirit module before him, "What's the word from Urahara." His words were cool and collected, despite the various crumbs of pastry that spewed from his mouth.
"Oy, why should we tell you, Ichi," Kon mocked, puffing out his chest, "It's not as if you'll be any help."
"What d'ya mean? Why else would you come here!" Ichigo yelled, making as if to grab at the stuffed animal, Kon.
"We came for Karin, she's much better at this kind of thing than you." Kon shouted back, in nearly the same position as Ichigo, "She's easier on the eye's too!"
"You better not be thinking about making a pass at my sister!" Ichigo's eyes now burned with fire as he argued with Kon.
"Why not? I used to sleep with her all the time! Late at night when she'd run her hand's over her young body and mo-"
"That's enough!" Grimmjow silenced Kon mid sentence, stepping forcefully upon the armored bear's head, "Perverted little fuck." Grimmjow spat. Grimmjow jaggerjack now turned to Ichigo and, nonchalantly, mentioned what Urahara had sent them here for, "Urahara said there's something stirring, he thought you might want to dabble in the hero biz after so long on the sidelines."
It was true, Ichigo had only slain the occasional hollow, leaving the greater portion of them up to the Soul Society's representative in Karakura town. The orange headed young man nodded and began to set off towards the Urahara Shop with Grimmjow, leaving Kon twitching on the ground.
Light, she felt…light. It had been so long since that sensation had caressed her consciousness, she adored it, basked in it, drank it in. The girl…woman…child…she opened her eyes and gazed out upon a twinkling city of electric lights. The city seemed to reverberate with light and sound. The spectator, standing atop the highest of all the buildings, cherished this.
She wanted to taste that light, feeling that heartbeat was not enough; she had to take it, make it her own. The girl, woman, temptress, princess, leapt from the building, the wind blowing through long strands of hair, she flew through the night. The street rushed up at her, and somebody screamed, the creature diverted it's flight towards that scream, smelling the fear. It led her straight to the powerful light she adored.
The creature attacked the light, trying to take it from whoever would keep it from her. First one being fell, and the beast drank the light, she was so hungry, she needed more. Much more food was needed to sate this impossible thirst.
Ichigo entered the Urahara shop with Grimmjow and Kon in tow, he was greeted by Urahara himself in the main entryway.
"Ichigo! It has been too long!" Urahara held the fan before his face as usual, "Why have you waited so long to come visit me?"
"We were here yesterday, Urahara," Grimmjow groaned at the older man's antics.
"Yea, no kidding hat-n-clogs, you must be getting senile." Ichigo jested. Suddenly Ichigo found himself on the floor, the side of his face feeling freshly beaten.
"Oh my," Urahara waved his fan, "You must be very careful, I just had the floor waxed."
Grimmjow shuddered, Kon stood in wonder, was Urahara really that fast?
Ichigo grumbled as he picked himself off the obviously not freshly waxed floor, the scuff marks obvious on the beaten wood. One day he would be able to get Urahara, but that day was not today. Clouds of dust came from Ichigo's clothes as he brushed them off, "What did you want us for, Urahara?"
"Such a rush to business? Come in, sit, have some tea!" Urahara left the room for another and the three followed, the tow living ones grumbling, the small stuffed one moping.
As soon as Ichigo stepped into the hall he was assaulted. Warmth and soft skin pressing against him crying, "Ichi-kun!" Purple hair covered his eyes; he immediately resisted and pushed the assailant back kindly. Before him stood Youroichi, eyes smiling as she gave him a coy grin. Behind her Urahara stood next to Tatsuki who only just barely wasn't glaring at him.
Youroichi said something that he didn't catch, "What?" He said stupidly.
"I said something in English, sorry. After two years over there that language has kind of integrated itself into my speech." Yourichi said with a bit of a mischievous glint. Ichigo took note that she hadn't repeated what he had said.
"So you've been in England?" Ichigo asked, "Or America?" This time he put the question to Tatsuki, trying to pull her into the conversation. Even if she hated him, he still thought of her as a close friend and wanted things to go back to how they were, knowing they never could.
Tatsuki didn't say anything, but she did walk boldly up to Ichigo, pushing her mentor aside. Her face was a mixture of betrayal and insecurity. She spread her arms wide and continued to glare at Ichigo. Ichigo didn't understand at first, but then Tatsuki stepped forward and embraced him. He returned the friendly hug, hopeful and doubtful. She spoke up as she drew away, looking him in the eye, "Both, Ichigo, we've been all over the place."
Ichigo's eyes widened, they had been gone for a very long time, it was not unreasonable that they had been both places and more on top of that. Still astounded to see his long lost friend, he continued to question right on the heels of her answer, "Well what have you been doing?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Urahara cut in, "If we are going to be catching up we may as well be comfortable, now come on in, let's sit." He gestured to a door Ichigo hadn't noticed him open, inside was a table set with early morning snacks and juices as well as assorted fruits. Next to this display the pop tart Ichigo had devoured seemed like nothing. His stomach audibly grumbled, drawing the attention of the small crowd.
"Heh, heh, guess I need more to eat than pop tarts in the morning." He scratched his head embarrassed. Tatsuki sighed as some of the others laughed. He could have sworn he heard Youroichi call him a dumb ass under her breath, but he wasn't sure. They all entered and sat, Kon taking a warning close position between Youroichi and Tatsuki.
They both looked the same, yet it was the small things that made Ichigo aware of the time that had passed. Youroichi looked only slightly older and was dressed in street clothes; tight Capri pants and sneakers going along with a purple shirt that clung hinting to her form and matched her hair. Tatsuki, however, looked much different for remaining the same. Her hair was just slightly longer, but it had caused her hair to gather about her head rather than in her identifying random spikes. It curved slightly to her head sensually, but not really sexily. The hair covered part of her cheek, at first Ichigo wondered why, but after a few glances he found that it covered a scar along the side of her jaw that had not been there before. Her body was still muscled and lithe, but that limberness was hidden beneath baggy cargo pants and a strange combination of a sleeved shirt that left her shoulders uncovered and a tank top. All in all they were two very different people, yet they were the people he knew.
"So, Ichigo," Tatsuki began after some idle banter, "You wanted to know what Yourichi and I have been up to?" The orange-headed boy nodded around a mouthful of strawberries and melon. She laughed at this, he was still the same, if a slight bit more morose and stronger, "Well, we've been traveling around and I have been training under Yourichi, challenging dojos all over the world. It was amazing, Ichigo."
The former cat, now temptress, nodded smiling around a tiny pastry, "Yup, Tatsuki here remains the unnamed champion of the fighting world." At this recognition a slight blush of modesty colored Tatsuki's cheeks. Everyone around the table congratulated her.
"Mazeltov!" Grimmjow said louder than anyone else.
Ichigo gave him a strange look, "Mazeltov?"
"Yea, it's Hebrew for congratulations." Grimmjow nodded as he nibbled on a piece of toast.
Ichigo laughed, "What are you, Jewish?"
"Yea," Grimmjow said, the laughter starting to get under his skin, "What of it? Huh?"
Ichigo's laughter dimmed immediately, "Umm…nothing, I just didn't have you pegged as…a….y'know…a jew."
Grimmjow glared but took this as a suitable excuse and returned to nibbling his food.
The breakfast recollections continued, shared stories of humorous adventures by all parties. Some stories further past than some care to remember, some including friends they didn't wish to remember. Rukia and Orihime, Renji and Byakuya, and Chizuru Shinji. All of them were gone now, either from hollows or the darkness of the living world. It seemed that this small group was one of the few able to actually survive the torments of both worlds.
"How…What happened to Chizuru?" Tatsuki asked, she had been shocked at first to find that her old anti-friend had passed away, but that shock had passed into that mutual understanding of the immortal young.
Everyone about the table shared a look, minus Tatsuki and Youroichi, it was Ichigo that finally spoke, "She was out one night, and, the police assume, that she was cornered and assaulted. The attacker took her life and her dignity."
Tatsuki look confused for a moment about the last remark, but then realization dawned on her, Chizuru had been raped and murdered. Fire burned in her eyes, "What happened to the attacker."
"He now resides in hell," Grimmjow answered, "I made sure of that while Ichigo hunted down Chizuru and escorted her to Soul Society. Took us three weeks to find the man and Chizuru's spirit, but we pulled through in the end."
It seemed they had all lost their appetite. Unaware of it, they all shared a thought regarding the rapidly darkening nature of Karakura Town. Gangs had become bolder and more frequent; a murder was not unheard of nor was muggings and assault. Chizuru just when down in the books as another teenage girl in the wrong place at the wrong time. That seemed to be the way most people went.
"The world is falling apart it seems," Youroichi commented, voicing their silent thoughts, "The hollows grow stronger on this side, some are even as strong as they would be in Hueco Mundo."
This made Ichigo shudder, the Arrancar had gone into remission in Hueco Mundo, they had no desire for the souls of earth. They each just chose to carve out their own little alcove in the deserts of Hueco Mundo and be left alone. Only one Arrancar had truly found its way into Ichigo's heart, and that was Nell. She now walked the hollow world with her brothers and their pet, happy to be with each other and unbothered.
"And that's why you're here, isn't it?" Ichigo broke the slight silence, "You've encountered a hollow you can't deal with and you need our help." Youroichi nodded her agreement to Ichigo's words. Tatsuki looked unsure, but followed Youroichi's example and offered a simple nod, "Where is the hollow?"
"California, a state of the US." Tatsuki answered.
"When should we leave?"
"As soon as possible." Youroichi said, "This hollow isn't following normal patterns. She's not coming after the powerful spirit beings, it's attacking everyone. While it doesn't kill it's victims, hundreds have been hospitalized already and it grows by the day."
"I can leave tonight, assuming there's a flight." Ichigo shrugged. He wasn't too worried about the hollow. If he had Grimmjow and Youroichi fighting with him they would make quick work of it. Not to mention Urahara and Tatsuki.
At his words Yourichi flashed him a stack of plane tickets, and Ichigo offered a smirk. They had been able to predict his answer. Looks like he and Grimmjow were headed to America.
Author's Note: I know this was mostly just talk and development, sorry for that, but I felt it necessary. I promise more action soon.
Next Time on BLEACH :
Ichigo stared into those eyes he had gone so long without seeing, those peaceful orbs that made his heart beat faster each time they caught his. Shock and thrill coursed through him, he knew this person.
