Bleach: The Afterlife Saga
*Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. All the characters mentioned in this story, with the exception of OCs, are the property of Kubo Tite.
Chapter 2 Welcome to Soul Society
Rukia finished transmitting her report to the Secret Remote Squad's messenger unit about the night's incident and hung up on her soul pager. She scanned the area for the presence of other hollows but found none in the vicinity. She was just about to leave the scene when she felt several familiar presences nearby. She then heard some familiar voices.
"There's someone over there," said a male voice.
"Is that who I think it is?" asked another male voice.
"Oh my god, it's Kuchiki-san!" a high pitched female voice squeaked. Rukia turned her back, and her eyes widened in surprise. Walking towards her were three people she had come to regard as her nakama.
"Orihime, Chad, Uryu!" she exclaimed. She had never expected to bump into them again, and was unsure of how to respond. She was taken aback when Orihime gave her a bear hug.
"It's so good to see you again Kuchiki-san," said Orihime. "We've missed you so much."
"It's good to see you too Orihime," Rukia replied.
"What brought you here Kuchiki-san?" asked Ishida. "I know you're not the regular Shinigami who is patrolling Karakura Town."
"Wait Uryu, there's something wrong here," said Chad. He pointed to the building in front of them. "Isn't that Ichigo's house?"
"You're right, it is Kurosaki-san's house," said Orihime. She, Chad and Ishida were horrified at the huge amount of blood that lay splattered on the street right in front of the house.
"What the hell happened here?" asked Ishida.
"I don't sense Ichigo's reiatsu," said Chad. They stared at Rukia, who silently regretted what she was about to tell them.
"This isn't going to be easy for you to hear guys, but you must hear it," she said. She took a deep breath before continuing. "Ichigo and his sisters are dead. They were attacked and eaten by a hollow." As she expected, Orihime, Chad and Ishida were utterly shell-shocked, though they expressed their emotions in different ways. Chad remained silent but bands of sweat started forming around his brow. Orihime broke down and started crying. Ishida immediately had a lot of questions he wanted to know.
"When did this happen?" he asked.
"I'm not quite sure, but I arrived here about an hour ago," Rukia replied. "Sadly, they were already dead by the time I got here, and all I managed to do was to save their Konpaku from being eaten by the hollow. Their living bodies were nowhere to be found."
"What did you do with them then?"
"I performed Konso on Ichigo and his sisters. They should already be in Soul Society."
"Then Kurosaki is officially dead then," said Ishida in a blunt tone.
"No…Kurosaki-kun," cried Orihime. "I can't believe it." Rukia tried to console her the best she could.
"Why was Ichigo attacked by a hollow?" asked Chad. "He didn't have any reiatsu."
"I'm not sure," Rukia replied. "Perhaps the hollow was drawn to his sisters. However, there is something strange about all of this. I know Ichigo's father is also a Shinigami. He would have easily killed the hollow if he was with Ichigo's sisters. But I don't sense his presence at all." She looked at Chad, Orihime, and Ishida, who all remained silent for a moment.
"Kurosaki told me his father left the house roughly two years ago and has never come back. He left Kurosaki in charge of the house." said Ishida.
"Kurosaki-kun had to care for his two sisters. He worked so hard he didn't have time to see us at all," said Orihime. "He told us he was too afraid that his sisters would be attacked by a hollow if he left the house without them."
"I see..." said Rukia. She began feeling sorrow and empathy in her heart. "I can't imagine what Ichigo must have gone through. To live with the knowledge that he couldn't protect his sisters from the hollows."
"Are you planning to stay here, Rukia-san?" asked Chad.
"No, I plan on returning to Soul Society soon. I just have to wait for the Secret Remote Squad to arrive. They'll clear up this entire scene so that no ordinary humans will find out about the blood stains. They'll also come up with a plausible story to present to the human authorities. Unfortunately, I must leave it to the three of you to break the news of their deaths to your fellow nakama."
'I understand Kuchiki-san," Orihime nodded. She stared at the night sky. "I just hope Kurosaki-san is okay." Rukia and the others also stared into the night sky.
"I'm sure he's doing fine at the moment."
Ichigo slowly opened his eyes. He saw blue skies overheard. He turned his head to the side and saw a clump of trees nearby.
"Urgh, where am I?" he asked himself as he struggled to sit upright. After taking a good look around he saw that the clump of trees formed the outskirts of a forest. On the opposite side a vast plain of grass and dirt stretched as far as the eye could see. In between the forest and the plain was a dirt road that appeared to run parallel to the edge of the forest. The scenery reminded Ichigo of the place where he had fought the final battle against Aizen but he had absolutely no clue about which part of the seemingly endless Rukongai he was in.
Ichigo heard a voice moan nearby. He turned his head and saw that it was Yuzu. He quickly went by her side and watched as she opened her eyes.
"Onii-chan?" she asked.
"I'm here Yuzu," said Ichigo. He helped Yuzu to sit up.
"Where…are we? And what happened to us? All I remember is that monster wrapping its tongue around my neck." Ichigo didn't want to frighten Yuzu but he knew it was better to tell the true.
"I hate to say this Yuzu but you and I are in the afterlife."Yuzu froze in shock and her body started trembling.
"We're…in the afterlife? Does this mean…we're dead?"
"I am afraid so. That monster which attacked you was a hollow. It killed and ate our bodies. Our souls were saved by a Shinigami who sent us here. Do you what this place is?"
"I…think I do. I remember what the girl who once lived with us-I think her name was Rukia-chan-told me and Karin-nii. She told us about the place called Soul Society, where these people dressed in black robes lived who killed ghosts and monsters. This…looks like the place she described" Ichigo was amused at Yuzu's description.
"You almost got all of it Yuzu-chan. This is the Soul Society. The girl who lived with us was a Shinigami. They kill monsters like the who which attacked us, but they also guide dead souls to the afterlife," Ichigo explained. "The Shinigami who sent us here was the same girl who lived with us." Yuzu was surprised to hear this.
"Then Rukia-san saved us from the hollow? But, where is she now?"
"She has her own business to take care of, but I am sure we will see her again. For now, we must worry about ourselves," said Ichigo. At this moment he suddenly realized he was missing something. "Oh shit, where's Karin?"
"I don't see her around," said Yuzu. They searched around frantically but could find no sign of her. Ichigo slammed his fist against a tree in frustration.
"Damn it all! I'll never be able to find Karin!" he swore. "This place is too damn big! Who knows where she might be now?"
"Um, Onii-chan, there's something here you might want to see," said Yuzu. She pointed to a foot print on the dirt road. Ichigo looked at the foot print carefully and saw that a line of similar footprints leading away from it, along the dirt road.
"These footprints don't look like mine or yours Yuzu. And from the looks of it, they all begin at this point."
"Look Onii-chan, there's the outline of a body nearby!" Yuzu exclaimed. Ichigo inspected the outline, which was close to the outlines he and Yuzu had made, and then looked at the footprints, which appeared to start from the outline.
'There's no doubt about it," said Ichigo. "Karin must have awakened before we did. She must have been unable to wake us up and in a panic tried to find help. The footprints look fresh, so they're probably quite recent. This means Karin can't have walked far." He turned to Yuzu, who nodded in agreement.
"Let's go find Karin-nee," she said.
Karin's trail was not very hard for Ichigo and Yuzu to follow. Her marks remained clearly visible on the road despite occasional breaks and overlapping footprints. The continued along the dirt road for a while as it skirted around the outskirts of the forest. But then they encountered an intersection. The dirt road they had walked along continued in what Ichigo could make out was a westerly direction. Running perpendicular to that road was another road which cut across the grass land plains and into the forest. At this point, Karin's footprints changed direction and followed the road into the forest.
"Looks like Karin went into the forest," said Ichigo. "I wonder what made her do that."
"Look Onii-chan, I see footprints that don't belong to Karin-nii," Yuzu pointed out. Ichigo inspected the road closely and saw that there were indeed different from the footprints that Karin made. These were about the same size as Ichigo's foot, and appeared to be coming from the road that headed across the grass plain. Upon closer inspection Ichigo noticed there were actually two different sets of footprints. Ichigo examined the point where the two sets of footprints and Karin's footprints intersected and saw there was a jumble of footprints. What worried Ichigo the most however was that the two sets of footprints also appeared to head into the forest.
"Have you found anything yet Onii-chan?" asked Yuzu.
"I might have, Yuzu-chan," Ichigo replied. He pointed to the other two sets of footprints. "From what I can gather Karin must have met two other men that had been walking along the other road. They must have stopped at this point, for their footprints are all messed up. I'm not sure what happened but it looks as if Karin ran into the forest and the two men followed after her."
"Oh no! Karin-nii could be in trouble! What are we going to do Onii-chan?"
"We're going to find her of course. And save her from whoever is chasing after her." Ichigo clenched his fists tightly. Despite his lack of spiritual power, he was brimming with resolve and confidence. He gave a reassuring smile to Yuzu, who smiled back.
"Let's go." The two of them followed Karin's trail. The road through the forest was surprisingly straight and was wide enough for three people to walk side by side. The trees on either side of the road had been cleared enough so that the path was free of any fallen branches, logs or leaves. The surface of the road was still relatively dry, which meant any footprints that had been made by others were clearly visible.
After a while the trees on both sides of the road seemed to thin out, as if the forest was coming near an end. Most importantly for Ichigo and Yuzu, they noticed that the tracks they had been following were becoming far more clear and visible, indicating that they had been freshly made.
"I think we're close to Karin-nee Onii-chan," said Yuzu enthusiastically. Ichigo nodded. He quickened their pace and started scanning the vicinity in case he caught any sign of her.
They soon reached a clearing in the forest. In the distance they could see a set of thatched houses. At this point the footprints they had followed diverted off the main road and headed towards those houses.
"Karin must have ran for those houses over there," said Ichigo. He and Yuzu followed the footprints. When they were within fifty yards of the houses they started hearing voices nearby. Two of those voices sounded like men, but a third voice was clearly a woman's. And what was more it was a voice Ichigo and Yuzu knew well.
"That's Karin-nee's scream!" exclaimed Yuzu. As soon as he heard her voice, Ichigo ran at breakneck speed towards the house. As he skirted around the first house he was stopped in his tracks by what he saw. Barely ten feet away and right next to the front door of a house, two ugly looking men stood hunched over the prone figure of Karin. One of the men brandished a knife in his hands, whilst the other had grabbed hold of Karin's right arm. When Ichigo looked at Karin closely, he gasped when he realized that her shirt had been torn open and her chest was bare. When he watched the man with the knife shifting his gaze to Karin's trousers, Ichigo knew what they were planning to do her.
"Get off me you bastards!" Karin swore.
"Calm down little girl. We're going to do you slowly. It's going to be the most amazing experience you're ever going to have," said the man grabbing hold of her arm.
Ichigo had heard enough. Without a moment's thought he landed a full force punch on the cheek of the man grabbing hold of Karin's arm. The impact of the punch sent the man crashing into the man with the knife, causing both of them to topple onto each other.
"Ichi-nii!" exclaimed Karin. "Thank god you found me!"
"Save the sweet talk for later Karin," said Ichigo. "These goons aren't finished yet." He watched as the man holding the knife pushed the other man, who appeared to be unconscious, off him and climbed to his feet.
"Who the fuck are you?" he asked in a vulgar tone. "How dare you fuck around with our prey! I'm going to make you wish you hadn't fucking messed with us!" He brandished the knife in front of him, clearing attempting to intimidate Ichigo. When Ichigo wasn't fazed at all, the man charged at him and lunged at his face. Ichigo side-stepped his blow and grabbed hold of his right arm and twisted it behind the man's back. The man screamed in agony.
"That 'prey' of yours is my sister," said Ichigo. He stared into the man's eyes. "You were going to rape her weren't you?" The man struggled to break free of Ichigo's grip. He spat into Ichigo's face. Ichigo wasn't fazed in the slightest and continued to glare at the man.
"You utterly disgust me," he said. With his left fist he punched the man in the face. The punch was so hard he broke the other man's nose. The man screamed in agony as blood spewed out. Ichigo finished him by landing a second punch against the man's forehead that toppled him over. He heard a 'crack' sound as the man fell onto his back. Ichigo inspected him and realized he was dead. Strangely, Ichigo felt absolutely no remorse at all.
"Huh, looks like that last punch of mine shattered his skull," said Ichigo. He inspected the other man and found that he was unconscious but still alive. As neither man had any useful items on them, the only thing Ichigo pilfered was the knife. He then went back to Karin. She was still lying on her back, but Yuzu was sitting beside her.
"Are you alright Karin?" asked Ichigo. Karin nodded.
"Thank you for saving me Onii-chan," said Karin. "I feared I was going to die."
"How could you run off like that Karin-chan!" exclaimed Yuzu in exasperation. "Do you know how much effort it took to find you?" Karin was happy at Yuzu scolding her.
"I'm so sorry Onii-chan, Yuzu-nee," she said. Tears started forming in her eyes. "I was such a fool to leave you both behind and walk by myself."
"It's okay Karin," said Ichigo as he hugged her tightly in his arms. "I forgive you. Just promise that you'll never leave our sight again." He stood up and faced his sisters.
"The three of us must stick together no matter what happens from now on. We've got no one to depend upon except each other. As long as you stay beside me, we will survive in this land." Both Karin and Yuzu understood Ichigo's words.
Ichigo helped Karin to her feet as he asked Yuzu to strip the shirt off the dead man. She gave it to Ichigo who draped the shirt around Karin in order to cover her chest.
"Come on, we'd better start moving," said Ichigo. "Hopefully we can find some place to stay." The three of them left the group of houses behind and continued walking down the road through the forest. As they walked, Ichigo knew that they were going to be in for a long and tough time ahead. He just prayed that some day he would meet Rukia again.
Notes: I apologize if the scene involving Karin is a little too explicit, but this scene is essential for establishing Ichigo's character development in these first few chapters. Keen Bleach readers will note that Inuzuri was Rukia and Renji lived in when they were children.