AUTHOR'S NOTE
Thank you for the awesome reviews and comments! :D I really hope I don't let you down, I've got tons of pressure on me. D: Well this chapter was the hardest to write by far, so it took a day longer than normal. Hope you like it anyway :)
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KUROSAKI ICHIGO
Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing in this poor village, dressed in a tattered black robe and carrying this old sword around?
There are so many unanswered questions swirling around in my mind, and I'm frustrated because I can't find the answers to any of them.
And what pisses me off more, is that there have been these weird people dressed in black robes and running towards me yelling, "Kurosaki Ichigo! Ichigo! You've got to go back to Seireitei!"
I mean, come on! I have no idea who this Ichigo person is! Neither do I know what or where Seireitei is! I don't even know who the hell I am, for goodness' sake!
It sucks to be in the dark.
Because I was so ticked off by those men in black (hardy-har-har), I took out a few of them, to relieve my anger. God knows I needed it.
None of the villagers have been helping either. They've all been giving me weird looks, and backing off from me like I'm dangerous. They give those dumbos the same glances.
It's as though anyone wearing black is a magnet for attention, and I hate attention.
Anyway, today there haven't been many people on my tail. Being left alone for once, I decided to go exploring an area of the village I've never been in.
Turns out there's this beautiful river in the village. It's sunset now, and when the sun's rays reflect off the surface of the water, the view is breathtaking.
I stand there, admiring the vista, when there's movement, and my eyes automatically swivel to it.
Was I a secret agent or stalker previously? Jeez.
I don't regret tearing my eyes away from the view though. The movement is that of a petite, black-haired girl, her back to me. She stoops to pick up some flowers floating on the river. Holding them up to her face, her eyes turn sad and melancholy.
"If only we could return to those days…" I hear her sigh.
Now I can't look away from this girl. She cuts a dazzling figure against the river, and the questions about myself are blown away, to be replaced with ones asking:
Who is she? Why is she here? Why is she so… sad?
As my curiosity heightens, something in my mind clicks, and the floodgates of memory, locked so tightly and firmly at first, are thrown open…
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Renji describing to me, under the influence of Matsumoto's 'special' sake, the time he had fallen in love with Rukia.
"Standing beside the river, holding a flower, sad look in her eyes… the prettiest thing I had ever seen."
A vague thought before I passed out from the sake, that I had also fallen in love with Rukia the first time I set eyes on her…
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The memory fades as fast as it appears. More memories, stronger and older this time, assault me even as I'm sent reeling from the first one.
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Seeing her for the first time. Black robe. Eyes, alert and roving. Calling her "shinigami". Seeing the tears swim in her beautiful eyes, able to capture my soul from the very start.
"I'm not 'shinigami'. I'm Kuchiki Rukia."
--
Clad in white this time. Eyes more melancholy than I have ever seen them. Full of fear, but also shocked and relieved. Hanging, helplessly from the wooden posts of the Sougyoku. Her face, alight with wonder, illuminated further by the brilliant light and fire of the huge bird behind me.
"Yo."
"Ichigo…"
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That summer night. Side by side on the grass, staring at the night sky. Seeing a shooting star. My first.
"Ichigo, Ichigo! Make a wish!"
"Huh? I don't believe in stuff like that."
A pregnant pause.
"What did ya wish for?"
"Hmm? You're not supposed to tell anyone."
"Oh. Right."
Another pause.
"I wished for us… to be together."
"Forever?"
"Forever."
Our lips meeting, so naturally and so smoothly. Like we were pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, a perfect fit.
Like we were made for each other.
--
Renji. Shinigami. Sougyoku. Rukia.
It all comes back to me now, with a vengeance.
"Rukia." My voice is little more than a whisper.
I run towards her, but she is too deeply entrenched in memories that she does not hear me.
"RUKIA!" I fling my arms around her.
Before I know what is going on, I'm flung back, my chin hurting like someone just elbowed it. Which Rukia just did.
"WHAT THE…" Two spluttered words before I roll down the slope behind me and crash into a bush, sending leaves flying.
"Ichigo? ICHIGO! Oh my God, I'm SO sorry!"
I can't reply for the leaves and dirt in my mouth.
"You idiot, why the hell did you have to do that?!"
"I… it's not my fault! You were the one who sneaked up behind me in the first place! What were you doing there anyway?! Oh… I bet you were stalking me, weren't you! Me sleeping in your cupboard not enough eh, you perv! Kon teach you more tricks this time?!"
"Wha…" I sputter, at a complete loss for words. "How the hell could Kon teach me anyway? I got killed by that son of a bitch Aizen!"
The mention of my death stops her short, and I'm taken aback too. Now that my memories are back, I'm fully aware of who I am, what I'm doing here, and who the person standing, wide-eyed in front of me is.
I'm Kurosaki Ichigo, ex-Shinigami substitute.
And the person in front of me is…
"RUKIA!"
I turn my head to see Renji running down the slope, nearly falling in his haste to reach us.
"Hi to you too, Renji… what the hell, you're a Captain now?!"
"You don't recognize the Shinigami uniform, nearly slaughter close to a whole squad's worth of minor Shinigami, and now you know what a Captain haori looks like? Real sweet, man, Ichigo. Glad you remember us."
"Yeah, me too. Why didn't they send you guys earlier? Figured a Captain and a Vice-Captain –" I had noticed the insignia on Rukia's arm "–had too much to spare for a lowly ex-Shinigami?"
"Very funny, Ichigo…" Rukia looks away from me self-consciously.
"What d'you mean by ex-Shinigami, anyway?" Renji's frowning.
"Oh… Well, I've lost my Shinigami powers! Isn't that obvious?" I wave Zangetsu in front of them. Well, what used to be Zangetsu anyway. Seems like the old man went into hibernation or something.
"That's strange. Your Shinigami powers are well, exceptional." Did Renji just compliment me? "So there's not much reason why you shouldn't have retained your powers, even after you died."
"Riiiiight." I stretch my arms and look away. I'm still uncomfortable with the subject of my death. "So, what are we going to do now?"
"What we're going to do, is to bring you back to Seireitei. That was what those minor Shinigami were trying to get through your thick skull." Before I can protest, Rukia turns her back on me and makes her way down the slope. "Let's go! Hurry up!"
Although she makes an effort to sound like the brave person she always is, we both detect a tremor in her voice. A tremor that always appears when she's crying, or on the verge of.
Seems like Rukia did miss me, after all.
A grin spreads slowly over my face as Renji and I trudge after her.
Life can only get better now.