Hello everyone! This chapter is again completely Daricio's with a little bit of my own adding and editing.
The original story from Daricio is… /s/4321805/1/bFamiliar_b_bFaces_b. (I hope I copied that right…)
Answers to reviews:
Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet: Once again thanks for the advice. I did a little editing in the last chapter so hopefully it didn't sound too rushed.
Mel72000: You're welcome
IchigoMoonCutter: Thanks for your review. I hope I can keep up this story
Theblackbook: Yeah, I though Ichigo did seem a little like a wimp in the last chapter, but considering he's a kid and scared half to death, I figured that he would be dragged around a bit. Hopefully, the old Ichigo will be coming back. Don't keep expecting long chapters because I don't know if I can keep that up, but I'll try
Just a little warning, there is some AU concerning the defeat of Aizen and of course what happened afterwards.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or this story.
Chapter 2: Discovering Self
Ichigo's POV
Ichigo was once again being dragged somewhere, but at least this time it was done at a manageable pace and he actually had both feet on the ground this time.
He wasn't exactly sure where he was being taken, but he didn't bother asking since he knew that the shinigami captain didn't seem to care about his questions or opinion. Ichigo guessed that wherever they were going had to do with when he had seen Rukia talking to the other kind-looking woman, asking if her barracks had somewhere private to talk since Rukia's own quarters were currently crowded with busy shinigami.
He was now in an unfamiliar building, but that wasn't really a surprise considering the whole Seireitei was foreign to him. Rukia seemed to know where she was going as she navigated through the hallways and eventually came to a room and opened the door.
The sudden sound of the door opening had startled whatever occupants it had, and Ichigo heard something heavy hit the wooden floor. When he looked around the captain, he saw another shinigami sprawled on the floor.
"Ru-Rukia-san," the shinigami exclaimed, still recovering from his surprise. He got to his feet and brushed at his shihakusho nervously.
Rukia smiled kindly at the shinigami. "Sorry, Hanatarou. Unohana-san had said that this room was empty and that I could use it."
"Oh! I'm not using it. I was just sitting here because it was so peaceful. But if you need it, I'll leave," Hanatarou rambled.
Rukia nodded her thanks and walked in with Ichigo trailing behind.
Hanatarou finally took notice of the third person behind his friend.
"Is there a particular reason you're babysitting, Rukia-san?" Hanatarou looked somewhat amused at the orange-haired stranger.
She glanced at him as she passed. "There is, but it's classified. If you don't mind, could you get him something to eat, Hanatarou?"
He looked puzzled at the classified bit, but nodded amiably. "Sure." He hurried off.
Rukia pulled Ichigo to a small table in a corner and they sat at either side of it.
"I thought we were going to the world of the living," the boy said.
"We will," Rukia assured him. "We just have to wait for the gate to be prepared for us."
Ichigo nodded, still not understanding what this gate was.
"Okay," the captain began. "I guess I'll just tell you everything I remember from since I first met you..." she pulled out her sketchbook and a pencil. Where she had gotten it from, Ichigo had no idea and why a person would carry a sketchbook around with them was beyond Ichigo.
Ichigo looked at it warily. "They're not all going to be bunnies, are they?"
Rukia stared. "You remember the sketchbook, but not me?"
He blinked at her. "What?"
"Never mind," she sighed. If he remembered her drawings enough to insult them, she should probably not draw this; she didn't want to have to hit a kid... She put her sketchbook away.
"How much do you actually know about… yourself?" Rukia felt really weird asking that question.
Ichigo shrugged before answering, "I know he—I was a captain and a human, defeated Aizen and the hollows, and disappeared a while ago."
"I guess I better tell you all of it. What you heard were probably just mixed up rumors anyways… Okay, when you were about fifteen..." She stopped suddenly, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Ichigo; that just seems weird to say that to twelve-year-old..."
He smirked slightly. To be honest, it felt weird hearing her speak about him like this. "How about you just tell me the story of Kurosaki Ichigo, and I'll just pretend you're talking about another Ichigo?" he suggested.
Rukia smiled. "All right. When Ichigo was about fifteen, living in the real world, his family was attacked by a hollow. I was the shinigami on duty in his town, at the time, so I tried to defend him. I got injured, so the only option left was for me to lend him my shinigami powers."
Ichigo frowned. "Isn't that illegal?"
He paused, wondering how he had known that bit of information, but Rukia did not seem to notice and continued with her narration.
"Yes, but at the time, I didn't think it would matter. Once the hollow was gone, my powers would fade from him, and everything would go back to normal... Except that for some reason, he accidentally took all of them, and they didn't come back to me. So for a few months, I went to his school with him, and he took care of my shinigami duties. Eventually, though, the Soul Society had found out what I'd done. They sent a captain and a vice captain with orders to arrest me and kill him."
Ichigo's eyes widened a bit. "Did they kill him, then?" he asked, momentarily forgetting that this story was supposed to be about himself.
"Well, they thought they did. Byakuya-niisama destroyed his spiritual energy and the shinigami powers I'd given him. I let them take me to Soul Society, hoping that by doing so, they would at least let him live. They did, and he was rescued by Urahara-san."
"The same Urahara we're going to go see?" Ichigo asked.
Rukia nodded. "Right. Urahara-san gave Ichigo special training that gave him his own shinigami powers in place of the ones he had borrowed from me, and Ichigo broke into Soul Society along with a few of his friends to come rescue me from execution."
"Wow... Didn't he get stopped by the captains?"
"They tried to stop him, but he refused to stop." Rukia shook her head. "He beat Kenpachi, which is why he tried to fight you. He beat Renji, who was a vice-captain at the time. He even learned bankai and defeated Byakuya-niisama. He was really powerful."
Hanatarou showed up then with a tray of food and set it in front of Ichigo. Ichigo stared at it for a long moment before eating hungrily. Hanatarou smiled and turned to the captain. "Are you telling him about Ichigo-san?"
Rukia smiled although it was kind of strained. She didn't know that Hanatarou had heard part of her conversation. "Yeah, kind of."
Hanatarou grinned, sitting at the table next to his friend and turning to Ichigo. "Ichigo-san was really great. I first met him when he broke in to save Rukia-san. He actually kidnapped me and tried to hold me hostage, but it didn't work because the 11th squad guys don't like me."
Ichigo smirked, listening intently while still eating. "But you became friends with him?"
Hanatarou nodded with a laugh. "I also wanted to rescue Rukia-san, so I continued following Ichigo-san around and I healed him whenever he got hurt while fighting."
Ichigo stopped eating and looked up at Hanatarou with a look of concentration on his face. "Your sword heals people when you hit them with it, doesn't it?"
Hanatarou blinked at him. "Err, yeah actually, it does." Rukia shot Ichigo a warning glance, and he wisely went back to his food.
Rukia went back to her explanation. "Anyway... Unfortunately, what none of us knew at the time was that three of the Shinigami Captains were traitors: Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tousen. They had killed the entire office of 46 and were relaying false messages to the rest of the shinigami, constantly moving up my execution date and trying to prevent Ichigo from rescuing me."
"Why?"
"Well, it turns out that Urahara-san had used me as a hiding place for a really powerful artifact called the Hougyoku without telling me. Aizen was trying to get his hands on it, and the only way he could see to do that was to destroy my body. Obviously, that didn't work; Ichigo was able to save me, but Aizen managed to get a hold of the Hougyoku anyway. He and the other traitors escaped to Hueco Mundo and began forming an army of Arrancar."
Ichigo frowned. "Arrancar?"
"Shinigami/hollow hybrids. They're created when a hollow removes its mask and gains shinigami powers. There's also another kind of shinigami/hollow hybrid called a Vaizard, when a shinigami gains hollow powers. And it turns out that part of the reason Ichigo was so powerful was that the training Urahara gave him actually turned him into a Vaizard."
"He could use hollow powers?" Ichigo asked in slight wonder.
Rukia shook her head. "Only after he defeated the hollow in his mind. Before that, it kept trying to take control of him and destroy everything. Once he took care of that, though, he was fine."
Ichigo frowned, his head suddenly swam with this new information and the word "Vaizard" sent warning signals off inside his head.
The hollow in his mind…
It couldn't be true. But something else said otherwise.
Shiro…? Ichigo called out hesitantly inside his head. He scowled mentally when he didn't get a response. Shiro!
Oi, King. What's up? the response finally came.
Kuchiki-taichou said… He—I was a… Are you…
Che, spit it out already, King… I don't have all day.
Are… are you a hollow?
There was a pause as Ichigo waited.
When no response came, Ichigo called out again. Shiro?
What if I was? came the question.
Ichigo hesitated. When Shiro and Zangetsu had appeared in his head, he had not given it much thought. He now understood that Zangetsu had been telling him the truth about him being a sword, but Shiro had not offered any information on himself. He only gave instructions and harsh remarks (insults really) and took over his body once or twice, but only to defend Ichigo. But hollows were bad and Kuchiki-taichou had said that Kurosaki's hollow had tried to…
Will you try to take over me? Ichigo asked.
Do you want me to?
Ichigo thought that was a dumb question. Shiro may have saved his life, but Ichigo preferred having control over his own body. You tried to take over the… other me.
Che, the other you was weak.
And I'm not?
You're better than the other you. He was afraid of me. You're not afraid of me are you?
The last part didn't really sound like a question, more like a statement of truth. Ichigo wasn't afraid of Shiro; Shiro was annoying at times, but he trusted the white version of himself. Despite this friendship between them, Kuchiki's words had made him nervous.
The hollow seemed to notice this and said, Don't sweat it King. I'm not planning to take over.
Why—
Tell you another time King. Right now, you should really pay attention. Outside, I mean.
Ichigo snapped back when he realized that Rukia was trying to get his attention.
"Are you all right?" the captain asked with a worried expression.
"Yeah, just… thinking," Ichigo muttered. For some reason, Ichigo felt it best not to mention that he still had the hollow inside him just like his past self, and Shiro mumbled his agreement at this decision.
The captain looked at the boy doubtfully, but decided not to push it.
"Anyway, while we were all training to fight against Aizen, he kidnapped one of Ichigo's friends, Inoue Orihime. You can imagine he wasn't too pleased. So he and a few others broke into Hueco Mundo to go rescue her."
"He rescued lots of people, didn't he?" Ichigo mused.
Hanatarou grinned. "Yeah, he did. It's why lots of people liked him."
"Oh." Ichigo looked down at his tray and sighed. Kuchiki-taichou realized with a small smile that it was empty.
Hanatarou realized this as well and laughed, getting quickly to his feet. "I'll go get you some more food," he said, grabbing the tray.
Ichigo immediately brightened, allowing the frown to soften a bit. "Thanks!" Hanatarou bowed and left.
Rukia waited until he was out of earshot before turning to Ichigo again. "Does any of this sound familiar to you at all?" she asked him.
Slowly, Ichigo shook his head. "Nope. Ichigo sounds pretty cool though," he said, allowing a small smile to finally spread across his young face.
She sighed. "I guess I should have expected as much. How did you know about Hanatarou's sword, though?"
Ichigo shrugged. "Names and random facts just click sometimes. I just suddenly knew that Hanatarou's sword heals, and you called him Hanatarou, so..."
Rukia frowned. "I see. Well, try to keep the observations to yourself. We don't want people figuring out who you are..."
"Kay..." Ichigo frowned again. "So what happened next? Did Ichigo save Inoue?"
The captain nodded and continued her narrative. "Yes. At first, we weren't doing too well, but Yamamoto-sou-taichou sent in a few captains after us to help, and then we did okay. We managed to rescue Inoue, we damaged the Hougyoku, and took out quite a few Espada, who were the top Arrancar. Then we went back to Soul Society. After that, everyone trained hard for the next major attack. During this time, Yamamoto-sou-taichou decided that we desperately needed to fill the holes that the traitors had left so that we could effectively use all of our divisions again. So Renji, Ichigo, and I were made captains—Renji of the Third, Ichigo of the Ninth, and I took over the Fifth."
"So Ichigo's been a captain since he was fifteen?" Ichigo asked in slight awe.
"Well, he was seventeen by the time he was officially named a captain, but yes," Rukia confirmed. "Actually, a lot of people were opposed to his becoming a captain, since he was technically still alive in the real world. But nobody else really qualified for the position, except Ikkaku, but he wouldn't take it. I barely qualified for the captain's position, myself, actually. I only barely learned bankai during our rescue trip."
"Oh. So did Ichigo kick Aizen's butt?"
The captain shook her head in amusement. "Well, yes. It was another year before our next attack on Hueco Mundo, though, and even with all that training, it still took most of the captains to bring him and the other traitors down... None of us got out of that battle uninjured, and Ichigo was probably the worst off out of all of us since the idiot always seemed to be in the heaviest part of the battle." Rukia paused and looked up awkwardly since the so-called "idiot" was sitting right in front of her, but Ichigo remained impassive, not noticing the insult. "Anyways, we all eventually recovered, and then we all had to readjust to non-wartime situations."
Hanatarou reappeared then, placing another tray of food in front of Ichigo and jumping back into the conversation. "That was a bit difficult after the huge battles we'd been through. Quite a few people then thought that Ichigo-san should step down from the captaincy and go back to living his life in the real world."
"Did he?" Ichigo wondered, speaking with his mouth full.
"Like Ichigo would ever listen to anybody but himself," Rukia snorted. "No. Just to spite them, he started alternating his time between Soul Society and the real world. Not only did he maintain all of his captain duties, but he also managed to graduate from high school, despite missing most of his sophomore year, and before he disappeared, he was doing pretty well—actually better than well—at a community college in the real world. Nobody could really complain, then."
Hanatarou shook his head. "Except for the Vaizard thing."
Rukia scowled, obviously not pleased that her friend had brought up that sore subject. "Ah, right. Many people were opposed to letting a Vaizard be captain. After the whole 12th division fiasco though, it was generally agreed that since it wasn't his fault he was a Vaizard and that he should be allowed to stay captain as long as he didn't use his hollow powers."
"Ichigo-san also refused to wear the usual captain's cloak, which made quite a few people upset," Hanatarou remembered.
The captain grinned at that. "He claimed it was because it 'messed up his bankai outfit,' but I'm pretty sure it was because he didn't like people judging him by his captain status. He never was one to brag, except when he was actually fighting..."
"He sounds nice," the boy commented, grinning again, but then frowned as he pointed to something above the captain's head. "What's that?"
The second comment didn't make much sense to the other two at first, but then Rukia realized that he was pointing at a black Hell Butterfly that was headed towards them. Quickly, she turned and held out a finger for it to land on.
"Kuchiki Rukia-taichou, the gate is ready to go whenever you are," was the recorded message. Then the butterfly flew off again.
The captain frowned. "Not enough time to tell you everything else, then. I'll just skip ahead to the part where this all applies to you, then."
"Ichigo-san's story applies to him? And you're going to the real world, Rukia-san?" Hanatarou asked, looking confused.
Rukia turned to him in surprise, biting back a curse. "Ah, I forgot you were here. Sorry, Hanatarou, that's classified information. I don't mean to be rude, but could I finish talking to him alone?"
Hanatarou looked apologetic. "Of course. Sorry, Rukia-san!" He hurriedly left.
Ichigo watched him go, looking disappointed. "He was nice. If he was friends with me before, why can't we tell him?"
Rukia shook her head. "Because if we told everybody who was friends with you, everybody in Soul Society would know."
"Oh."
"Anyways, two years ago, there was a large fire at a hospital in the real world. Ichigo had been there at the time, so of course his saving people thing kicked in. He rescued a lot of people from the fire, but went back into the building one too many times. It had become unstable, and it literally fell apart on top of him."
Ichigo's eyes widened. "Was he okay?"
"Technically," Rukia sighed. "We managed to get him out of there, but only his shinigami form. His real body, along with those of the two kids he'd been carrying, had been crushed and burned to death..."
Ichigo winced. "Ow."
"I can imagine. Then again, Ichigo himself was fine. He was more upset that he hadn't been able to save those kids. We gave them a soul burial, and then Ichigo opened up a gate back to Soul Society, figuring he'd just have to be a captain full time, now. That's when things went wrong."
"What happened?"
The captain looked at him. "That's kind of what we're hoping you can tell us. Basically, he entered the gate in the real world, but never got to Soul Society. Nobody could figure it out; we searched everywhere for him: the real world, Soul Society, including Rukongai, we even tried Hueco Mundo. But he was nowhere to be found. Months later, the search was finally called off, and it was generally assumed he was dead… until I found you."
Ichigo contemplated this for a long moment before shaking his head slowly. "I don't remember any of that..."
"Well, that's what we're going to Urahara-san's for," Rukia replied with forced cheeriness. She stood and held out her hand, indicating that he should follow her. He glanced at his tray, which was still half full of food. She smirked wryly. "Take it with you. Come on."
Happily, he picked up the tray in one hand and followed her out the doors and toward where the gate was waiting for them.
Hanatarou's POV
Just outside , Hanatarou curiously watched them leave. He didn't want to pry into classified information or anything, but he couldn't help but wonder... A mysterious orange-haired child with a connection to Ichigo? Could that mean...?
Hanatarou frowned. "I didn't know Ichigo-san ever liked anyone that way..." He wished he'd gotten the kid's name...
Yeah, pretty mellow chapter, but the next one's going to be more fun
I have a question…
When shinigami students gain their zanpakoto do they (a) receive a sword and then eventually the zanpakoto spirit inhabits it, (b) the sword materializes after the shinigami contact the spirit, or (c) we have no idea and the method is up to the audience's interpretation.
Also did I spell zanpakoto right?
Please let me know so I can get it right. Thanks!
~Bluesky21543
