Chapter Three: The life-changing Onsen

It had been nearly three weeks since Ichigo arrived in the Soul Society.

Nearly three weeks since he had died.

Through out this time, Ichigo remained vigilant in his pursuit of his mother, Masaki Kurosaki.

It soon became apparent to Ichigo, when he first started on this task that the odds were pretty much against him. One of the things he learned when he began asking around and giving a description of his mother was that there were literally thousands that fit her description. It was like trying to find a grain of salt in a sand dune.

The other thing he learned was that not everyone arrived in the same district of the Rukon as Ichigo had came in. There were numerous other areas and also there were different towns scattered around the wall of the Seireitei that Masaki Kurosaki could have came into as well. Eight years could make things even harder as people's memories dwindle with time.

Ichigo was persistent, though. Getting work as a dock helper in the fishing business, he found it easier to travel to other parts and also to ask more people around with the description of his mother. However, as people's memories in the Soul Society go, Ichigo was finding his recollection of both his memories of his mother and that of her face seem to become hazier as the days passed; things that used to be in fine detail became scattered and muddled. Thus, Ichigo wrote down everything he knew and also drew a rough portrait of her to remind himself, should his memories leave him entirely.

He found that his memories of his mother weren't the only things that were now beginning to leave him. His days when he was alive had slowly become alien to him. What he once could recall of his earlier memories have now become less and less. He could, now, only recount his family and his friends in school and events leading him to starting junior high school, plus everything that followed after that to the where he was now.

Walking down a street with his hands in the sleeves of his brown kimono, Ichigo was enjoying what would be a day off for him from working with the fishing crew in the West Side of the Rukon District. They were supposedly in port for a week or so, but there was always the possibility that they'd leave sooner if need be.

Ichigo sighed as he thought of that. Working on the boat, loading fishing nets in, was not THAT daunting of a task; yet it was tiring at times.

Walking through the district square, looking at all the crowded areas, Ichigo felt a twinge of nostalgia as he remembered the fire works festival that he and his family used to attend in the summers. They too were crowded and he remembered Yuzu and Karin going wild for all the paraphernalia that would be sold on the street corners in Karakura.

Ichigo stopped as he held his head in frustration as he tried to remember what his sisters would almost always buy at the stands.

It was…They were….

"Dammit!" He shouted.

People around him stopped and looked at his curiously as he continued clutching his head, shaking it back and forth in anger and even more frustration.

Kiyone was getting irritated.

Having spent almost a month trying to track down the wayward soul that had a high reiatsu, she felt as if she were a rat stuck inside a maze and the wafting smell of cheese was leading her blindly to one dead end after the other.

Whoever this guy was, Kiyone seemed to be three or more steps behind him as he seemed to constantly change his direction one right after the other.

She had counted herself lucky that she had at least been able to get an adequate description on the guy.

Having a week ago interview a man who gave her a description that matched three other ones she had heard, was one of a young man with bright orange hair who seemed to have an obsession going on with asking about for a particular person whom he knew when he was alive.

Kiyone guessed that his pursuit of this person was the reason for his constant change in direction and thus leading Kiyone around like a blind beggar.

Walking through the West Rukon District, Kiyone decided to rest herself against a wall in the square and maybe, despite how unlikely it would be; see if she could spot the person she was looking for as this was his latest location.

As with many crowded areas, the volume in the area Kiyone was in was high. Chatter was abundant and Kiyone found herself wrapped up in attention as she caught some of what was being said by a pair of middle aged women.

She didn't catch all that they had said, but what had initially drawn her in was their talking of a guy who was making a commotion in the street earlier and that his reiatsu nearly suffocated them. That and that he seemed to be a unique individual with bright orange hair.

Quickly getting up and rushing towards them with renewed vigor, Kiyone shouted.

"Hey! Wait! Do you know where this guy went?"

The two women stared at her for her having shouted at them, but once they saw her Soul Reaper attire, they quickly bowed and spoke.

"Well, he was here half an hour ago. I believe he was headed in the direction of the onsen at the end of the street. Most going in that direction, who don't live in the vicinity, usually end up there." The woman with her hair braided replied.

Kiyone gave out a sigh of relief and bowed and thanked the two women before getting a second wind and began sprinting off towards the onsen, lest the guy escape her once again.

Hope was building up inside of her as, if he was indeed there, she could complete her task and finally be able to return to the Seireitei and be at her Captain's beckoning. It had pained her for being away for so long and it irritated her that Sentaro would be abusing her Captain's time.

Upon arriving at the onsen, which was a small one-storied establishment with the hot spring in the back, Kiyone came in and went to the front desk and asked if the person she was searching for had came in and was still inside.

The woman in front of her, an elderly woman with graying features, along with wrinkles; smiled serenely.

"Why yes, the person whom you described is in here and is still making use of our hot spring."

Kiyone gave another sigh of relief.

"Where is the hot spring located?"

The woman's look of tranquility disappeared as one of suspicion replaced it.

"Why may I ask?"

Kiyone sighed, inwardly. She knew that there were those who resented Soul Reapers and what they did as a lot acted with an arrogant air of authority. Kiyone had never, but she knew a number of those who did as a habit.

"I need to talk with him." She replied. Hoping that what she said was all it took to sway the woman's suspiciousness and contempt.

The woman's smile reappeared. "Alright, then. He's down the hall and to the left. You can leave your clothes in the changing room right next to it, before going in."

Kiyone's eyes widened.

"Excuse me?"

The woman's smile remained. "I didn't stutter, dear. You can change for the hot springs in the room opposite to the entry to the springs itself. I'll collect your clothes when you are done and you may come and pick them up when you are through and are ready to pay for your visit."

Kiyone hung her head. Of course, this woman wouldn't allow her to go in there without being a paying customer. She could just sit outside and wait for the guy to be done and approach him then. However, the orange-haired idiot never stayed long enough in a certain spot for Kiyone to hone in on him and do what she was assigned to do. Therefore, there was a risk she might miss him again.

Sighing in defeat, she nodded and proceeded to the room opposite the entryway to the hot springs. Inside she found many stalls for people to change out of their garments and into towels that were provided in bins in each changing room.

Kiyone grimaced as she closed the door, locking it, and began to undress. Normally, in less private places she hated showing off her form as she felt self-conscious about her small appearance. Having adopted a more tom-boyishness attitude about herself, much like her sister, than, say, those like Rangiku Matsumoto of the Tenth Division; she never really tried to be girly most of the time and being in such a public place such as this, she felt even more awkward.

Wrapping the towel around her frame, she sighed as she concentrated on her objective more than the insecurities she was scrutinizing about herself.

Walking to the door and opening it, she peeked through a crack in the door before walking out and turning towards the entrance to the hot springs.

Taking in a deep breath, she slid the door open to the outside.

Once open, her eyes widened as a thought soon came to her.

This was a unisex hot spring!

Normally, in most onsens, there was a divided wall to separate the genders to allow privacy and dissuade gawking. However, there were rare places such as this one where the wall was seemingly taken down and allowed both men and women the comfort of taking their baths together and being able to converse without having to talk to a wall.

Kiyone, in all her experiences, had never been in such a setting such as this.

However, duty over personal matters overwhelmed her as one thought gripped her in fervor: Once this was done and over with, she could go home and never have to experience this sort of thing ever again.

Gripping her towel tightly and more securely, Kiyone proceeded out to the waters, her eyes alert and searching for her mysterious person to whom she was instructed to recruit to become a Soul Reaper like herself. To her relief, he was easy to find due to his enormous reiatsu which was over-powering, much like the people whom she interviewed said. They were right in their description as, had she been unaware, she would have mistaken him for a third seat or lieutenant.

He seemed to be in an unoccupied part of the hot spring, away from others which were heavily grouped in the area closest to the grounds leading to the entrance inside the onsen.

Going inside the water, which Kiyone took a second to enjoy the sudden warmth before proceeding forward, she wallowed her way towards where he was at. Through a dense outlining through the mist that came off the water, she could make out where he was. Soon, she found him leaning back against the rocky area, his head extended back and resting on some rocks as he seemed to be breathing in the vapors surrounding the area.

Still clutching at her towel in an effort to make sure nothing would be seen and to avoid any sudden embarrassing moments; Kiyone came closer to where she was just a few feet from him before receding back to the rocks to where she was three feet from his side.

Taking a moment for closer observation, Kiyone gaped a bit at how brilliantly bright his orange hair was. Never before had she seen anyone with hair of that color. Taking in more of him, she noticed that he had more than an appropriate build for someone his age. His body tone suggested that he did a lot of strenuous work, most likely something involving strenuous activity. She still couldn't see his face due to the angle of his head and because of his damp hair clinging to his eyes. However, he seemed to stir and moan before sighing and bringing his head up.

Kiyone starred at the guy. His features…They looked like….

The guy seem to finally notice she was there as he looked at her with a curious expression that soon turned to irritation at the lack of introduction or speaking between them as time passed on.

"Are you going to be staring at me like that forever?" He asked.

Kiyone shook herself from her sudden stupor as she tried to regain control over her thinking process.

"Uh, no, I mean yes. Yes, I'll stop. I'm sorry."

The guy looked at her quizzically before sighing.

"Is there something you wanted?"

Despite herself, Kiyone couldn't but help to marvel at the sudden similarities between this guy and someone she came to admire long ago. Someone important, not only to her, but to her entire division.

She suddenly pinched herself knowing she was asked a question. Composing herself better, she began what she had initially had set out to do.

"What's your name?"

The guy took in a look at her. Thankfully, for Kiyone, he wasn't the type to be staring at her body. If he was, he was being awfully subtle about it.

"Ichigo." He replied.

She nodded. "Well, Ichigo, my name's Kotetsu Kiyone. I'm a Soul Reaper with the Thirteenth Divison."

That seemed to get his attention as he focused on her more.

Kiyone continued, "One of my division's responsibilities is to recruit those who enter the Soul Society that have high spiritual energy, or reiatsu, to enter the Soul Reaper Academy and begin their journey to becoming a Soul Reaper." She paused to see what his reaction would be after that.

Ichigo starred at her this time before chuckling, darkly.

"Great…Just great. My stupid…reiatsu gets me attention once again. Well, at least this time no one's dying, I guess."

Kiyone could never have expected an answer like that. Never in a million years.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

Ichigo looked at her and sighed.

"It doesn't matter."

Kiyone felt a little annoyed that he didn't answer her, but decided to let it slide as she continued her objective.

"Well, alright. But you should know that it's rare for someone, such as yourself, to have such a high reiatsu in the first place. Many who come to the Soul Society don't. In any case, it's what my Captain is looking for when seeking out potential Soul Reaper candidates."

Ichigo seemed bored by the conversation, which didn't surprise Kiyone as she was never good at being a sales pitcher. She decided to wrap it up. A yes or no would suffice and either one would lead her back to the Seireitei.

"So, what do you say?"

Ichigo closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the rocks once more before opening them and breathing in slowly. From the corner of his eye he observed the girl before looking away again. He really didn't know what to say. Part of him wanted to flat out refuse the offer, but something inside of him was causing him to hesitate.

What, he didn't know.

Sighing, he lifted his head back up again and turned to the short-haired girl.

"Before I answer, I have something I'd like to ask."

Kiyone, seeing his mood change, perked up a little at a chance to end this quickly and get back home.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Do….Soul Reapers have a way of locating someone who had entered the Soul Society awhile back?"

Kiyone looked at him, wondering what could have brought on this question. She then remembered the things she knew about him, that he was looking for a person throughout all the Soul Society and it was what kept him moving so much.

Kiyone closed her eyes and slowly shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but we don't do that sort of thing. It'd be nice, I agree, but with all else we're in charge with doing, it's be too time-consuming. I'm sorry." She opened her eyes and looked at the guy seeing his eyes downcast into the water, a look of disappointment apparent.

Kiyone fidgeted as she adjusted her towel. She really didn't know why, but for some reason she felt guilty for having disappointed this Ichigo person. Maybe, for some reason or another, it was because of who he looked like, as his image was beginning to be unsettling in some ways to her.

"I won't give up." He whispered, causing her to look at him with wide eyes.

"What?" She asked.

Ichigo looked back at her with a scowl.

"I don't care if the odds are against me, I don't care. I know she's out there, somewhere."

Kiyone was at a loss for words. She continued to watch as Ichigo looked down at the water and then slammed at it with his fist.

"I have to see her! I have to tell her that I'm sorry that-" He stopped in mid-sentence as he then looked confused. His eyes, then, darted back and forth from left to right and then he growled as he scrunched his eyes shut and then clutched at his head.

He then began shouting.

"Aw! Not…again! Why can't I remember! Please, not this too!"

Kiyone could only look at him now with pity as it became clear what he was going through as she had seen it happen with so many others who've entered the Soul Society from the World of the Living. Memory loss, the loss of identity of who you once were; it was amongst the many reasons why Soul Reapers refused to aid in helping souls find their lost ones as those same souls soon lost all traces of who they were, thus their searches became unnecessary. However, many refused to accept their death from their previous world and refused to move on. That's what made their inevitable memory loss all the more sad.

Kiyone waited patiently for Ichigo to stop his little episode before talking to him once more. When he finally calmed down and his breathing became easier, she finally addressed what needed to be told to him.

"It's only going to get worse, you know."

Ichigo looked at her with a cold look but it soon changed to one of tiredness. He nodded, reluctantly.

"In the end, will it have been worth it? Taking all this time to search for someone, you'll most likely never find?"

Ichigo sighed and looked away from Kiyone off somewhere into the distance.

"I don't know."

Kiyone, for some reason or another, chose at that moment to move closer to him and then put a hand onto his shoulder. She gave a soft smile.

"You'll end up making yourself more miserable in the end when your memories have finally left you and all you'll have is your name."

Ichigo looked at her with tired eyes as he closed them and sighed.

"But," Kiyone continued, "You do have an option, a great option. You can come and be a Soul Reaper, create a new and possibly better identity for yourself than the one you had before. C'mon, what do you say?"

Ichigo looked off into the distance once more. She was right and he knew it. No matter how driven he was to finding his mother, his memories would soon leave him quicker than he'd be able to find her. He could only shudder at what would become of him shortly after that. Thinking about what was being offered to him, he slowly began to consider it as a possibility. His death, at the jaws of those Hollows, would be something he'd want anyone, soul or otherwise; to never have to experience. He could be a Soul Reaper and fight those things.

Turning back to the Soul Reaper, he was surprised, if not a little stunned and embarrassed, to see that she still had her hand on his shoulder. Then, the environment in which they were in soon came crashing down on him as he realized the not so subtle implications of the whole thing and began to blush brightly as he looked at her hand.

Kiyone, seeing Ichigo's blush, looked puzzled at first to why he was acting this way, when she finally realized she had been holding onto his shoulder for longer than necessary. She too blushed as she quickly withdrew her hand and turned around quickly.

"S-So, what do you say?" She asked, trying hard to get over the moment.

Ichigo closed his eyes and then nodded. "I guess….you're right."

Kiyone turned her head to the side to look at him from the corner of her eye.

"I think becoming a Soul Reaper would be the best thing for me now. I really don't have any better options now, do I?"

Kiyone smiled as she turned back around and nodded.

"You may be losing something important, something that you feel really matters as memories of your past life, but trust me when I say that, in this life, one you'll start as a Soul Reaper; things will, eventually, get better. I'm sure of it."

Ichigo nodded and for the first time since he had arrived in the Soul Society, he gave a smile.

Kiyone, once again gaped at Ichigo. His smile, one so reminiscent of one that she cherished every time it had been bestowed upon her by that person who every person in her division had fallen in love with and respected.

Who was this Ichigo? And why was he so much like….

Ichigo, unaware of Kiyone's internal emotions running rampant, turned away and sighed as he looked out to the sky above. The sun was beginning to go down and he had just had made a life-altering choice for himself in his new life.

To be continued….

A/N: I'll have to apologize for two things regarding this chapter. Well, maybe more than two things. One of the things I'll apologize for was how ooc Kiyone was. I'll admit, she was less than boisterous and more stable than her canon character normally is. She will behave like her normal self in chapters to come. It was only in this, for the purpose I had her in changing Ichigo's direction in life, that she'd behave in this sort of way and have a certain air about her that's a mixture of wisdom and experience. The other thing I'll apologize for are two things, one being how uneventful this was, but yet it did serve its purpose as, again, to show how Ichigo decides to join in and become a Soul Reaper. Lastly, this whole chapter was actually meant to be stretched out for at least several before the actual meeting of Ichigo and Kiyone. I abandoned that as I felt that I didn't want to drag things out for longer than they normally should.

Enough of me talking. Lol. Now's the time for you all to review and give me your insights on this chapter. The next chapter will be up as of next week, hopefully.

Q-n-P

Next chapter, Chapter Four: Takaya Ichigo, Soul Reaper