A/N: Seeing as I lacked sufficient space in the summary to fully elaborate on my focus in this story, I figure now is a good a time as any to reiterate. Most crossovers I've read, and I am speaking generally here so try not to take offense, usually fall into two categories.
The first kind is the one that usually doesn't pan out to well, and often it tends to err on the side of crap. That being the one where, some magical portal opens up for little to no apparent reason, and sucks the main character(s) of one universe into that of another universe, once there the the main characters form both sides meet up, once again with little explanation, and instantly become the best of friends, with little thought given as to how the separate characters might actually react to each other.
The second kind, being the one which I'm trying to emulate here, is usually the kind that usually works out better then the other, and again I am speaking generally here. This kind often goes straight to the source of their crossovers, and merges the universes themselves into a single entity. These kind tend to be the more well thought out of the two, with actually reason behind plot advancement and character interaction.
The idea for this story has been playing around in my head for awhile now, and I finally feel that I am up to the monstrous task of actually writing the thing. At this point, I have pretty general idea of where this story will go, and how it will end, but nothing is really final until its on paper.
That being said, here it is, the first "official" chapter, of Bleach: The Devil's Cry... title pending...
Thanks to the one of you who actually reviewed... all one of you... It inspired me enough to get around to typing the second chapter only a day or so later. Which I hope all of you reading this will appreciate as a feat that will not repeat itself in the future.
Special Thanks to SplitToInfinity for her review, proving once and for all that a little attention goes a long way.
Also thanks to the makers and producers of Devil May Cry and Bleach, because without them,my story would be substantially less interesting then it already is...
Moving on...
Bleach
The Devils Cry
Chapter 1: One of those Days
The first light of a new day barely peaked its way through the slits of the window shades, and already he knew it was going to be one of those days. He had been having those kinds of days for a lot more often then usual... ever sense she showed up...
His train of thought was cut off abruptly as his father's morning ritual began...
"GOOD MORNING ICHIGOOOO...," said Isshin Kurosaki, as he launched himself feet first towards his son's seemingly sleeping form, "...OMPF..."
Only to impale himself on Ichigo waiting fist...
The citrus haired youth sat up, his perma scowl twisted into its position of annoyance, as he watched his father nurse his possibly broken nose on the ground, tears of pride, or pain spilling from his eyes.
"You've learned well my son..." bawled the man child that was Isshin, as he pushed himself to his feet and turn for the door... until to turn around abruptly and launch himself at Ichigo again... obviously not having learned the first time... or the last several hundred times for that matter.
He sailed through the air toward his target, nothing could stop him...
That is until Ichigo opened the window behind him... and then moved out of the way...
Isshin, for his part, only screamed like a girl a few seconds before hitting the ground... and only cried for a few minutes after. He laid were he was spiraled on the grass, lamenting to his wife how poorly his children treated him.
The situation at hand over with, Ichigo was quick to close the window and latch it back into place. Partially to dull the sounds of Isshin's pathetic whimpers and proclamations of pride with regards to his son, and partially for his new tenet, or was it tenets now.
"Oye Rukia, you can come out now..."
The muffled sounds of shuffling came from within his closet, before the door tentatively slid open, reveling the short petite figure of Rukia Kuchiki. Tiredly she pushed herself out of the closet, eyes held shut in the face of the morning light.
"You weren't kidding when you said he did that every morning," she said, as she began the process of waking up, rubbing the sleep out her eyes, and stretching out in an attempt to get the blood flowing, "...I don't how much longer I can put up with the sounds of you two fighting to the death every morning."
"At least you don't have to live with him," Ichigo retorted, already fully awake and shuffling through his dresser for his uniforms.
"Let's just change and head to school already... the sooner we get out of here the better..."
At this Rukia raised her eyebrow, noting that he was in one of his moods today, heaving a sigh of discontent as he left to change in the bathroom, leaving her to change in his room. Alone now, she fell back against his bed, not fully ready to get on with the day just yet...
'Hmm...warm...,' she thought drowsily as she snuggled into the blankets...
An instant later she shot up and slapped herself in the face a bit, partially to rouse herself from the remnants of slumber, and partially to dislodge any thoughts of... that... from her mind. She had no idea when she started thinking about, that... it just happened... as much of a cliché as that was, it was the truth...
An inconvenient one at that, she could not afford any attachments to this boy, hell she wasn't even supposed to talk to him. Everything had become so complicated sense that night, and this damnable gigai wasn't helping at all.
'Damn that Urahara selling me defective merchandise... preferred customer my ass,' Rukia thought as she finally began the process of changing into her school uniform, making a mental note to pay the shop keeper a very violent visit later on.
Weather she knew it or not, she eventually ended up agreeing with Ichigo.
It was going to be one of those days...
He awoke to the sound of ringing, the echoes of his nightmares fading away back into the recess of his waking mind. He lay motionless in his bed for awhile longer, seemingly unable or unwilling to move, not even to stop the incessant noise blaring next to his head.
Five minutes of the non stop ringing and he finally stirred, sitting up and fumbling with the alarm on the stand next to his bed. After a few frustrating moments of trying and failing to get the infernal contraption to stop, a snarl escaped the man's lips as he hurled the non complying device against his wall, smashing it into pieces...
Awake fully at last, the man pushed himself into a sitting position at the edge of his dead, rubbing the few remaining fragments of sleep from his eyes. Briefly vivid images assaulted his mind, remnants of the nightmares that plagued him on a nightly basis.
A deep calming breath expunged such thoughts with the ease of practice, and the men began his morning ritual.
His hand slid over to the nightstand that used to hold his alarm clock, opening the drawer and taking out a six shooter revolver, the first gun he ever bought,which he got for one sole purpose...
With confident fingers he slid the cylinder out and fingered the single bullet he kept in the gun, the first bullet he ever bought... meant for the same purpose. He gave the cylinder a quick twist, spinning it round and round, until he jerked the cylinder back into place, snapping it shut, and pulling the hammer of the gun back until it locked into place.
He pressed the barrel of the gun against his right temple, finding the grove that marked the prefect spot from memory alone...
He pulled the trigger...
The hallow noise of the hammer snapping against air, signified that he was meant to live another day.
A grim sigh escaped his lips, as he replaced the gun back in the drawer he had pulled it from, running hand through his silver hair as he fell back against his bed and counted the cracks in the ceiling, as his mind wondered...
'2354 times I've played that game... statistically speaking I should of died about... 392 times now... ," thought the silver haired boy, searching for the will to crawl out of bed and start the day.
He didn't really have a choice, he started school today, and skipping the first day of school would make it harder to skip all the other ones later on...
Wearily he pushed himself to his feet and made ready for the day...
Half an hour later, the boy was dressed in the unformed the school had oh so graciously provided him. He tucked his lunch box into his back pack, and grabbed the keys to his motorcycle, before heading out the door, the sun glittering off a red jeweled necklace tucked securely around his neck.
He hadn't even made it to school, and he could already tell... it was gonna be one of those days...
The walk to school, was usually a loud affair when it involved Ichigo and Rukia. More often then not a fight would start from one observational comment or another, usually directed towards Rukia's hieght or Ichigo's intelligence... and then that would lead into a fight about something else entirely... and then that would lead into a proverbial shouting match... and then, more often then not, Ichigo would end up hopping to school on one leg, with a new bruise added to the growing collection accumulating on his shins.
Today was different though, silence permeated the space between the two of them, thickening to the air to the point where it was phyiscally hard to breath with the sheer amount of tension choking them. It was eerie, for Ichigo at least, the lack of verbal, and or physical, abuse from the midget to his right was not something he was not accustomed too. It made him paranoid, visions of things to horrible to describe danced in the back of mind as he pondered what exactly Rukia was so busy thinking about...
In fact, he was so deep in thought himself, that he missed the roaring sound of a motorcycle engine as it barreled down the street at a speed that was only barely legal...
Oblivious to his surroundings as usual, Ichigo barely registered his own step onto the black top, when a dainty hand gripped his shoulder firmly, and yanked him back with all of its considerable force...
Ichigo jerked back to reality, literally and metaphorically, as the motorcycle speed off into the distance, heading the same they were, Ichigo noted absentmindedly...
"IDIOT," said Rukia in that annoyingly superior voice that Ichigo had come to associate with her, "Are you trying to get yourself killed, or did you forget how to stop walking?"
Well... it WAS quiet anyways...
The motorcycle driver looked over his shoulder at the rapidly disappearing figures of the two teenagers he had nearly ran over...
They weren't human, he could tell that much alone in the fleeting fraction of a second he had been in close proximity to them. The air around them was different, the alarm that went off in the back of his head when something was wrong, was going off like a fire alarm. The one with orange hair was partially oozing his inhuman presence, irradiating the area like the aftermath of Chernobyl. His hands involuntarily tightened their grip on the handle bars of the bike, as he sped on toward school, his thoughts racing at the implications.
'Their matching uniforms indicate they are going to the same place as me, I'll have to keep an eye on them,' he thought as he turned into the school parking lot, casually brushing off the looks and exclamations of awe from the other students as he rapidly slowed the two wheeled vehicle down, and slid to halt into the student parking space.
Kickstand in place, and engine off, he dismounted the bike and gave it a quick once over, checking the compartments where he kept the tools of his trade stashed, just in case things got dicey. Satisfied that everything was in place, he removed his helmet and looked about to examine his... peers...
A wicked half grin formed on his face, as he took in the sights...
'Wow... I always heard japanese women were hot... but damn...' he thought as he grabbed his book bag and swung it over his shoulder, shamelessly checking out the fairer side of the student body. Another wisp of orange hair caught his eye, and he turned expecting to see the face of the kid he almost ran over back down the road. He appreciated the fact that this one was female... he really appreciated it... especially her... assets... and her black haired friend next to her wasn't bad either... not bad at all...
The half grin twisted further into a full on smirk as Dante turned back towards the school, 'well at least the curriculum looks interesting...'
Rukia walked onto the school grounds, and almost instantly her happy innocent school girl disguise was on, causing her to smile and wave her arms as she skipped over to her friends Orihime and Tasukia. Ichigo limped on behind her, his normal scowled amplified by the annoyance caused by her "act".
'If you wanna call that acting,' he thought to himself as he limped over to join his friends in the few minutes before the first bell rang, 'How she can fool anyone with... that... I'll never know.'
"ICHIGOOOO," cried Kegio as he rushed forth to embrace his friend, only to impale himself on Ichigo's fist, just as Isshin had not but a few hours before. A black cloud of rejection fell over him as he curled up into a little ball on the ground and wept over how no one loved him...
Chad grunted his greeting to Ichigo, who responded with equal enthusiasm, sitting down next to him in the circle his friends had formed against the wall of the school. Unconsciously his hand began to massage his aching and abused shins.
"Whats up with your leg Ichigo, you been walking on it funny for awhile now..." asked Mizuiro from were he was kneeling next to the crying Keigo, semi trying to consul him.
"Its nothing," Ichigo said in his typical tough guy manner, turning his head to glare in Rukia's direction, "I just hit it on a bench one to many times... A very, very SHORT bench..."
Barely half a second after the words had left his mouth, Rukia looked up from where she was talking with the other girls in their class, to send a withering glare in Ichigo's direction... AS IF SHE JUST KNEW...
'How the hell does she always do that?' Ichigo thought, as he turned his attention back to his friends...
The conversation remained light and idle for awhile, although Ichigo barely paid attention to it, something about a new kid and a motorcycle, he was in and out for the most part. There was something he just couldn't shake from the back of his mind, it was bugging the crap out of him, and it was distracting as hell. It was like a lingering presence, something close, yet fair away, and try as he might he couldn't make it out...
He snapped back to attention, as Chad rose to his feet, nudging him slightly to indicate the bell had rung and it was time to head to class. Ichigo blinked, and inclined his head as a manner of thanks before pushing himself to his feet, and making his way into the building. In the press of the crowd, he intentionally wound up walking next to Rukia for the majority of the trip. They ignored each other as best they could, which wasn't that good, but appearances had to be maintained, and it wouldn't do to have add fire to the rumors that were already circulating about the two of them...
Nevertheless... some things just need to be said...
"Oye, Rukia..." Ichigo semi whispered to the black haired girl next to him, intent on getting her attention, and her attention alone.
Despite the loud noise of the idle conversation of the other students, Rukia managed to pick his voice out, and turned to hear what he had to say.
"I've been having this funny feeling ever sense we got here..." he said, looking distracted and confused to Rukia's eyes.
"So you've felt it too...," Rukia said abruptly, glad that at least she wasn't the only one.
"I guess, so... what is it... it kinda feels like a hollow... but... I don't know... different..."
"I'm not sure what it is... I don't think its a hollow though... I would have received an alert from Soul society if it was..."
"Well what do you think it is then?"
"I just said I don't know."
"Well your no help at all then."
At this Rukia sent another withering glare at him, causing Ichigo to instinctively take a few steps away from her. He was surprised when, instead of hurting him, she simply cast her eyes about to make sure no one was looking, before speeding her pace up to walk a half a step in front of him. Ichigo blinked at this strange behavior, inwardly heaving a sigh of relief for his abused shins... Until Rukia took another step forward, then snapped her heal back to land squarely into the center of Ichigo shin.
If Ichigo were a less prideful man, he probably would have ended up dragging himself to class...
In his seat, next to Rukia, he opted out of glaring at her, instead focusing on the teacher, who seemed to be making a big deal out of something or other, a new student or what not... once again Ichigo really wasn't paying attention, just looking for something to distract him from the tazminian devil of a girl that was Rukia. He was only able to catch the last bit of what the teacher was saying.
"...and without further ado, here is our new foreign exchange student, fresh from America, Mr...hmm there seems to be an omission where his last name goes... oh well... Dante... why don't you come out and introduce yourself to the class."
Hushed whispered spiraled about the class, as endless theories and speculations surrounding this new mystery student circulated the class one final time, before cutting off as the subject matter walked in. The first thing Ichigo noticed was his hair, pure silver, and naturally so if he had to guess, immediately after that, he noticed an increase of giggling coming from the females of the class, and a renewal of the whispering from before. Before Ichigo could make anything more out of this the new kid, Dante was his name, bowed slightly at the waist, and made his introduction.
"...so...when does school let out on this half of the world again?"
A/N: Ah introductions, and first impressions are always so hard. I had a lot trouble working in Ichigo's and Rukia's relationship in this chapter, especially seeing as this is the first piece I've actually written about them. I think I got them pretty close around the second half, but not quite as fully as I would have wonted, hopefully I'll be able to flesh them out a little more...
I was planning on getting all the way to the first action scene this chapter, but I think it dragged it on long enough, so until then you'll have to make due with Rukia kicking Ichigo in the shin...that poor man...
Anyways, until next time, Read and Review as always, make sure to point out any mistakes I made, etc...
Update: Fixed some minor and major Grammatical and spelling errors pointed out to me... and some I discovered myself.
I'd also like to take this oppotunity to discuss the serious lack of reviews I've been getting. I don't mean to be pushy, but thus far I've gotten TWO reviews... BOTH of which are from the SAME PERSON... As it stands I have just enough motivation in me to get the third chapter down and see where it goes from there, but unless I get some manner of review or another from the rest of you, and I know there are more of you, the vistor count registers...
Look the point is, if I don't get more reviews... then I just don't see a reason to continue this story... the difference between me going on and calling it quits in the push of the button and a minimum of three words... and then another push of a button...
You get the idea...
Ok cutting off my inane rambling in... 3... 2.. 1...