AN: Hey everybody. I'm updating this just to see what happens with another chapter. I still haven't made up my mind about whether to keep this story going, although I'm happy that I got 4 reviews. I hope you guys enjoyed the last chapter and I hope this one does as well!
A special thanks to those who reviewed:
IchigoMoonCutter: sorry 'bout the cliff hanger! I just wanted to get people's attention. and thnxs for the review and your support for both of my fics :)
SuperRukia: yeah, I never really saw any resemblance between Ichigo and his family either, and thnxs for the review! I'm glad that the rain connection worked, wasn't sure if it was gonna be too much (kinda cheesy ) or not…
Ashes2Ashes121: thanks so much for checking this fic out, too! It's nice to know that I have people that like my work, and my success isn't just a one-time thing. thanks for your review and I'm glad you liked the chapter :)
kissonthechic: thanks for the feedback and advice. The reflections on becoming nobles are actually going to play a major role in this fic eventually. And I agree that the focus on how much they missed each other is a little too exaggerated in this chapter, and I tried to fix it in this one, hopefully it turned out right this time.
Chapter 1: The Sakura Tree
The young boy's soft panting filled the tiny space of the dark closet, making the quiet breaths sound extremely loud. The only light filtered in through a small crack in the wooden door, and the ray of flickering candlelight seemed to illuminate the splash of orange hair belonging to the boy huddling in the cramped space. A crash sounded on the other side of the door, and the boy peered out through the thin crack, trying in vain to calm his rapidly beating heart.
"I said hand him over, lady," a gruff voice commanded threateningly.
"I won't! Why do you want him?" The feminine voice held courage and determination, but also poorly concealed fear.
"You know exactly what we want him for," the man said, and a shadow passed over the light filtering into the closet, causing the boy to jump back, covering his mouth to avoid making any noise.
"I won't let you take him!"
"Look, bitch, if ya wanna live, hand over the brat!"
"You'll kill me either way! I won't let you have Ichigo!"
"Then this is gonna be more fun than I thought," the man's voice replied maniacally.
Heavy footsteps sounded through the now quiet room, and the slight thuds of the women's footsteps sounded seconds later, slowly moving in the same direction as the man's. A sudden metallic scratching sound filled the silence, creating an eerie echo throughout the house.
"P…please, s…stop this," the women pleaded, the fear now clearly audible in her tone.
"I don't think so. This is gonna be the most fun I've had in a while. Why would I stop?" the man asked, laughing.
The whistling of metal cutting through the air reached the boys ears as he watched the shadows through the crack. Time seemed to slow as he heard the sound of a sword cutting through cloth and flesh, hitting against bone with a sharp scrapping noise. A heavy thump of something soft toppling to the floor followed shortly, ending the agonizing sounds of death. There was a silence that followed that seemed to claw at the orange-haired child's heart, and the realization of what had just happened made his brain and heart go numb.
Pain replaced all feelings, all senses, all thoughts, causing the boy's eyes to fill with burning tears, and his body began to shake. A sob managed to escape his throat, and the boy clapped his hands over his mouth, trying desperately to hold in the tears. He heard a grunt from the man in the room and looked out of the crack in the door to see the man had turned toward his hiding place.
The young child's teary eyes widened with fear, and he slid back as far as possible from the door and flickering firelight, still holding back sobs of grief and fear. He heard the man's footsteps thud toward the closet slowly, and the tears building up in his eyes spilled out, dripping down onto his ragged clothing and dirty hands and arms. He continued to hold his mouth shut, trying with all his might to remain silent, and as the man's shadow appeared before the crack, the boy held his breath, tears still finding their way down his dusty cheeks.
The boy held his breath and hoped desperately that his insanely beating heart wouldn't give him away. The man stopped just before the door, and stood there for what felt hours, causing the boy to shake madly with fear and curl up in the farthest corner of the small space. As the doorknob moved, the boy nearly jumped out of his skin, shutting his watering eyes and covering his face with his hands.
"I think it came from over here!" a distant voice said, causing the doorknob to stop moving.
"It must be him! We can't let him get away this time!" said another distant voice.
The man on the other side of the door let go of the knob. The boy peeked out from behind his fingers, still holding his breath and stifling his sobs. He watched as the man's shadow moved away from the door, and a curse escaped the man's throat. The man's shadow paused, and the boy covered his face again, fearing that the man would come back for him.
"Listen up, ya little brat! Come out now and there's no reason I should harm ya. If ya keep on hidin', you'll just cause more pain. Ya already caused one death, how many more do ya wanna cause?"
The boy cringed and stifled yet another sob. He remained curled into a tight ball in the corner of the closet, trembling and crying, wishing for the man to disappear.
"Have it your way, but this doesn't end here," the man said, and his quick footsteps faded away as he left the small house.
The voices of the distant people had gotten quieter, and there was no sound coming from the other side of the closet door. The boy slowly moved his hands away from his face, peeking out of the crack once again. He remained shivering in the closet for what seemed like hours before finally reaching up and opening the door.
The sight that greeted the boy as he peered out from behind the door wrenched at his heart and he could no longer hold back the sob that rose to his lips. The room was quiet except for the occasional snap of the wood on the small fire. In the far corner of the small room, candles illuminated a small, roughly made bed and a side table. The flickering light was reflected off of a slowly expanding silhouette on the floor just beside the table, and the warm metallic scent of blood filled the air.
The dark liquid pooled beside the body of a beautiful women with caramel colored hair. The shinning dark puddle matted her silky hair that spread out wildly on the floor behind her head. More blood flowed out of the deep gash that reached from her left shoulder to right hip, and her rough clothing was torn and sullied. Her smooth face was stuck in a look of fear, with eyebrows raised and slightly furrowed and eyes wide and unseeing. Her mouth was stuck slightly open and frowning, almost as if she was stopped mid sentence.
The boy's cries grew louder and more uncontrolled as he approached the woman, and rivers of tears streamed down his face. He stopped in front of the torn body slowly, shaking in grief and fear. He fell to his knees next to the woman's body, and he stared down at her limp and lifeless form. He reached out, pulling his back once before continuing on to touch her uninjured shoulder.
"M-mom?" the boy said in between sobs.
"Mom w-wake up," he said, shaking the woman's shoulder.
"P-Please! W-Wake up!" He reached out with his other hand, shaking the woman's form a little harder, causing her limp head to lull back and forth slightly.
"M-Mom, g-get up! Y-you can't leave me! You c-can't!" he cried, shaking the woman harder still.
"G-Get up! I n-need you! P-Please!" His cries grew progressively louder and more desperate as his tears fell onto the slowly cooling flesh of the woman. The boy lay his head on her shoulder, sobs racking his body and choked pleas escaping his lips.
Light footsteps sounded from the open doorway, and the boy spun around, trying to wipe the tears from his eyes so he could see. A young girl of about six or seven years, around his age, stood in the door, looking down at the body on the floor with a mix of disgust and horror. She had ragged clothes like the boy and was just as dirty, but she had large, violet eyes, pale skin, and shoulder length black hair specked with white flakes of snow from outside. She moved her gaze over to the boy who had back away a little and was rubbing at his eyes, still crying.
"W-Who are y-you?" he asked in a frightened tone. The girl looked at him for a bit before looking back at the body.
"What happened?" she asked, not answering the boy's question. This time it was the boy who didn't answer, instead going into another bout of sobbing. The girl looked at him with sympathy and went over and grabbed his hand, gently pulling him toward the door.
"W-What are you d-doing?" he choked out, attempting to resist the girl's pull.
"We have to leave. If the guy comes back that will happen to us," the girl said, pointing at the woman's body.
"I c-can't leave her!" the boy cried suddenly, pulling against the girl's own pull.
"We have to!" the girl said, yanking him to the door.
"No!" he cried back, trying to put all his weight into resisting her pull.
"Please? We have to leave. Somebody will come and we'll be in trouble," the girl reasoned, pulling against the boy again.
"Bu-"
"Come on!" the girl commanded, pulling the boy to the door frame. The boy looked back at the body on the floor, tears still pouring down his face. He slowly nodded and reluctantly followed the girl out into the snow.
"My name is Rukia; what yours?" she asked, sounding like a little girl for the first time since the boy had heard her talk.
"I-Ichigo."
/
"Ichigo?"
"Rukia?"
The two stood gaping at each other, trying to comprehend what they seeing. Mixed emotions and thoughts flashed in both of their eyes, while their mouth remained slightly agape. Their flustered thoughts were soon interrupted by someone clearing their throat loudly.
"I would ask that you not address my sister in such an informal manner, Kurosaki," Byakuya said, his steely eyes and emotionless voice displaying none of his anger. The two teens looked over at him, trying to clear their minds of the confused jumble of thoughts.
"I…apologize," Ichigo ground out through clenched teeth, clearly irritated at being told what to do by someone he hadn't even officially met yet.
"You two know each other?" Karin asked, sending a curious look at Rukia.
Ichigo and Rukia glanced at each other awkwardly, not really sure how to proceed. They turned back to the curious faces of the Kurosaki's and the still emotionless face of the elder Kuchiki.
"Umm…yeah. We knew each other when we were younger," Ichigo said.
"So she's the one you were thinking about on the way over here," Karin stated, giving Rukia a once over.
"Oh my son! I told you that you were thinking of the Kuchiki girl! I'm so proud!" Isshin cried, streams of tears rolling down his face. He launched himself at his son, arms outspread to give him a hug.
"What the hell, old man? Get off!" Ichigo yelled from his new position on the ground.
Rukia resisted the urge to laugh at the pair now wrestling on the ground. She had missed Ichigo, and even if he had changed, she was still happy to see him. And when his family had talked about him thinking of her she had felt her spirits rise.
"You perverted old man, we were just friends! Now. Get. Off!" Ichigo shoved Isshin away from him, quickly standing up so that he wouldn't be attacked again. Rukia looked up as she felt a cold drop hit her arm.
"It's raining," she stated, still looking up at the clouds.
"Thanks for stating the obvious," Ichigo mumbled, only loud enough for her to hear. Rukia glared at him, despite the fact that she was inwardly happy.
"Shut up, strawberry," she hissed, smirking as he scowled at the old nickname.
"Still using that name? I thought you would have come up with something better by now, midget." This time it was Ichigo's turn to smirk as Rukia shot him an icy look.
"I am not that short," she ground out.
"Sure," Ichigo scoffed.
"Are you two done flirting yet, or should we just go in and leave you out here in the rain?" Karin smirked. Both Ichigo and Rukia turned slightly red, turning towards the rest of the group.
"Shut up," Ichigo mumbled, folding his arms over his chest.
"We should go inside and discuss business, Kurosaki-sama," Byakuya said, walking toward the mansion.
The rest of the group followed behind with the two old friends taking up the rear. They kept glancing at each other out of the corner of their eyes, but neither was sure what to say. They walked like that until they reached a large room with shining wooden floors and fusuma* doors separating the room from a small courtyard outside. Several zabuton* were set out around a low, cherry colored tabled with a beautiful ikebana* resting in the middle.
"Sit so we may discuss matters of peace. This feud has lasted long enough," Byakuya stated, taking his position on the side of the table facing the way they had come in. Rukia walked over to sit next to him, leaving the Kurosaki's to take up positions across from them.
"As you know, tensions between our people have risen, and many have taken up arms to fight against those close to the border. I fear that if this continues, we may face rebellion of both of our people," Byakuya said, keeping his attention on Isshin, who for once seemed to be serious.
"There is word of a radical group attempting to start a war between our people. Have you received any word on whether this is true?" Isshin asked.
"I have not. This is something we must look into. Do you know any more about this supposed radical group?" Isshin glanced over at Ichigo, then looked back at Byakuya.
"I do, but we may need to speak about this in private," he said, glancing back at Ichigo worriedly.
"Rukia, please escort the Kurosaki's into the other room. We will be out shortly," Byakuya said, turning to his sister.
"Yes Nii-sama," Rukia said, bowing her head slightly and standing up, leading Ichigo, Karin and Yuzu out of the room.
"Well, this is boring. Now what are we going to do?" Karin complained.
"Karin, be polite," Yuzu said, sending Rukia an apologetic look.
"Well, it's not drizzling anymore… We could go down to the market and look around," Rukia said, looking out across the city.
"Fine with me. It beats hanging around here waiting for them to finish," Karin said, walking towards the door.
"Fine, let's go," Ichigo sighed, following the black haired Kurosaki sister.
/
Ichigo looked around the market with mild surprise. With the uptight attitude of the Kuchiki household, he had expected a prim and organized marketplace, neatly organized and flowing smoothly. Instead, what he received was a bustling hub of people, vendors, and goods. People went here and there gathering up food and miscellaneous goods, kids ran through the streets playing and laughing, and vendors marketed their goods to passersby.
"It looks…" he started.
"Normal?" Rukia finished, smiling at him. "Not everything in Junrinan is as proper as the palace."
"I just figured that since the noble family had rods up their a—"
"We aren't that up tight!" Rukia cut him off, folder her arms and glaring up at him.
"Sure," Ichigo scoffed, "You're 'brother' isn't uptight at all."
"He's a little uptight, but he's not that bad," Rukia said.
"Hmm," Ichigo grunted, turning away and walking into the swirling mass of people.
"Hey! Don't walk away from me!" Rukia yelled, running after his beacon like hair.
Karin and Yuzu looked at each other for a second before following after them, an amused look reflecting in both of their eyes. When they finally caught back up with Ichigo and Rukia, they found them looking at each other, confused. They looked back towards an empty stall, only to have their jaws drop slightly.
"W-Where did he go?" Rukia asked, looking around.
"Forget where he went! What the hell did all that mean?" Ichigo cried, irritation replacing his confusion.
"Did we miss something?" Karin asked, looking at the two as if they were crazy.
"Don't look at me like I'm some sort of nut job!" Ichigo growled at her, causing her to smirk slightly.
"Oh, you mean you're not?" Karin asked innocently, smiling at Ichigo. Rukia put a hand to her mouth, trying to cover the giggle that was escaping her lips.
"You shut up too!" Ichigo said, spinning and pointing at Rukia.
"So, are you going to tell us what happened, or just stand there and act like an idiot?" Karin asked.
"Karin, you really should try to be more polite in front of Kuchiki-sama," Yuzu chastised, giving her sister a motherly look of disapproval.
"It's fine, Kurosaki-san, I don't mind. And please, call me Rukia-san," Rukia said, smiling at the young girl. Yuzu's brown eyes grew wide in surprise for a second, before she smiled at Rukia.
"Thanks, Rukia-san!"
"Ugh, I give up. At this rate we'll never figure out what happened!" Karin huffed, folding her arms.
Rukia and Ichigo glanced at each other, the confusion returning again. The Kurosaki sisters watched as a silent discussion passed between them, and Yuzu smiled at the fact that they didn't even realize how well they could read each other, even after all those years. The discussion must have come to end, because the two older teens turned back to them.
"Fine, we'll tell you. But I don't think it's a good idea for you to tell goat face or guy with the rod up his—" Ichigo was cut off as Rukia's elbow made contact with his side.
"What the hell?" Ichigo complained, rubbing his side. Rukia just huffed and turned away.
"Hurry up and get on with the story and stop wasting your time insulting Nii-sama."
"Fine, whatever…"
/
Ichigo walked through the throng of customers in market, not caring if the girl's caught up with him. As he passed a vendor with shaggy blonde hair and a cane trying to sell candy, he felt something rub against his leg. He looked down to see a sleek black cat gazing up at him, almost as if it could see into his soul.
"Where did you come from?" Ichigo asked, looking around for any owner. "Are you a stray?"
The cat just looked up at him, and then walked to the candy vendor. When Ichigo didn't follow, the cat looked back at him, almost as if asking him to follow it. Ichigo walked over to where the cat now stood and looked up at the man behind the stall. He had on a strange, green and white hat that must have been a western style, and most of his face was covered by a fan that he held up in front of him. Only one of his eyes was visible to Ichigo, and he was starting to wonder if this man might be some sort of criminal.
"Hello there! Welcome to my humble little stand. Would like anything?" The man asked, moving that fan and displaying a goofy grin.
"Umm, no. Is this cat yours?" Ichigo asked, trying to get away from the weird man.
"No, no! Yoruichi doesn't belong to anyone. She's my best friend!" The man said, bending down to rub the cat. 'This guy's nuts…'
"Ichigo!" Said teen turned to see Rukia running up to him, irritation flashing in her violet eyes.
"What do you think you're doing, walking away after insulting Nii-sama like that?" she snapped, not noticing the vendor.
"Ahh, what do we have here? The Kuchiki heiress graces us with her presence? Hmm, and Ichigo? We have the honor of two nobles coming to visit? Isn't this exciting!" the blonde vendor said, snapping his fan shut.
"Uhh, who is this?" Rukia hissed at Ichigo.
"I don't know! Just some crazy vendor!" he hissed back.
"That's not very nice," the vendor pouted. "I can still hear you. And just because you lower your voices doesn't mean the words don't hurt."
"Seriously? He acts like goat face!" Ichigo hissed again.
"Why are you here?" Rukia hissed back.
"I found a cat and it came here," Ichigo said, like it was as simple as that.
"What are you, five? Why did you just follow a cat to some random stall?"
"Shut up! I wanted to make sure it had an owner!"
"Baka! Why did it matter?"
"I don't know, it just did!" Their argument was interrupted by light chuckling.
"My, my. Do I detect a history here?" The vendor asked, popping open his fan again. "May I offer my services?"
"And what exactly are you 'services'?" Ichigo asked suspiciously.
"Just advice…and warnings."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ichigo yelled, getting irritated with the man.
"Maybe would should just hear him out?" Rukia said thoughtfully.
"What? You're actually considering this?"
"I've heard of him. You're Urahara-kun, right?"
"That's me!" Urahara said cheerfully.
"Let's give him a chance Ichigo," Rukia said, turning to her friend.
"Ugh, fine. I won't get out of here unless I do, will I?" he huffed.
"No." Rukia said simply.
"Excellent! Not let's see…hmm, to adopted nobles, old friends, or maybe lovers." Ichigo and Rukia turned red and started to correct him, but he continued on, interrupting whatever they were going to say.
"Neither knows where exactly they belong… I think I've got it! Now, heed my words, for they are rarely wrong," he said, a little too confident in his skills.
"Whatever, just get on with it," Ichigo complained.
"Very well. So, here you go!" Urahara said happily.
"The new arrives on changing tides
and darkness veils the light,
depth arrives on soft, swift strides
and the new inspires fright,
within the sakura tree."
"The new burns through cold
and hidden becomes revealed,
warmth of core erases old
and gentle blossoms unsealed,
upon the sakura tree."
"The resurfacing of petals bane
smooth waters begin to churn,
the pure soiled by cruel fate's stain
and black fires begin to burn,
around the sakura tree."
"Cold flames consume blossoms of white
blood of life falls from the sky,
and body of strong comes to alight
with the blood red petals that lie,
beneath the sakura tree."
Ichigo and Rukia stood in silence, staring at the pleased man before them. He smiled at them, waving his fan in front of his face.
"That turned out well!" Urahara said happily. "Right Yoruichi?" The cat just looked up at him.
Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other in confusion. 'What the hell was that?' The thought ran through both of the minds at the same time. They looked back at the stall, only to find that Urahara was no longer there. They gaped at the now abandoned candy stall, trying to figure out what had just happened.
"W-Where did he go?"
AN: Well, I hope you guys liked it! And for those of you who are wondering, yes, that poem/ prophecy thingy is original, and it will play a pretty major role in the things to come (sort of). And remember, I haven't decided on whether I want to continue with this story or not, so please review to let me know what you think!
Any suggestions or ideas are always welcome, so feel free to review and let me know what you're thinking.
*fusuma-sliding paper doors popular during the feudal age of Japan
*zabuton-flat cushions used for seating
*ikebana-Japanese flower arrangement
And don't forget to check out my other fic: The War Within