DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH! but i do own shiba ayame
hey! so sorry it took so long to upload, i got stuck for a bit...well, lazy. hope you guys like it!
Chapter 6: Night Rain
Apparently, the lack of Kyoraku at the underground training area could be attributed to the fact that he had decided that he'd needed a drink, and couldn't manage his way down the stairs once the oppressive reiatsu had activated, or at least not without falling.
While Ichigo-kun, Inoue-chan, and Chad were recovering in the other room, Urahara began to explain that unusual reiatsu to the group.
"So, when Ichigo-kun got his new soul chain and soul sleep, that was right after, or during a hollow attack. When that girl gave her soul chain to him, she accidentally incorporated her reiatsu, and the reiatsu of the hollow. Normally, it would never have surfaced, but it's had time to stir and combine in his soul sleep. It was probably woken up when Ichigo-kun was attacked, because your reiatsu amplifies much faster when you are in danger." Urahara explained, reflecting on the days of "the Headband of Justice" with a small, sneaky smile. He knew that Ichigo-kun would rather keep that between them, but one of these days, he was going to get that story out to the public. Probably on Ichigo-kun's birthday, or at his wedding...He shook those mischevious thoughts from his mind in order to keep explaining.
"That was what triggered the black rage, other than that initial event. Though it's very possible to think that it was triggered the first time because of the mix of unfamiliar reiatsu clashing all at once. He blacked out and his survival instincts took over." Urahara said, and Rukia-chan inquired,
"Was that why Ichigo-kun's inner hollow was so easy to bring forward?" There were many a things that Urahara could say about Ichigo-kun's inner hollow, but he wasn't going to get into that at the moment. Urahara shook his head.
"Nah, but that's why it's so overwhelmingly powerful against everybody else. His inner hollow is a bit different from the rest of the Vizards, because it was born out of his own soul, not just having one added to it. Think of it as a second zanpakuto, though it's purpose is different."
"What do you mean by different?" Toshiro-san asked, looking worried.
"Well, I said that his survival instincts take over when he blacks out, right? His inner hollow can devastate everybody else, but it's like a zanpakuto in the sense that it will never defeat Ichigo-kun. From time to time, sure, he can be defeated in battle by his inner hollow, but no matter how many times Ichigo-kun's inner hollow wants to stay in control, truthfully, he never can. He is forever a part of Ichigo-kun. Because Ichigo-kun's inner hollow represents his instincts. His speed is unmatched; every move is flawless. There are no mistakes when it comes to Ichigo-kun's instincts. To put it simply, he is a warrior, and his warrior instincts cannot be rivaled. They are perfect."
As a scientist, perfection was something that Urahara strived for. And when Ichigo-kun's inner hollow was unleashed, to see that perfect instinct? It was mind-blowing. If he had been a less humane man, he would have dissected Ichigo-kun, just to try to achieve that same perfection again. But he could never do that to someone. So he hoped that Mayuri never got his hands on Ichigo-kun.
"That's why his hollow powers take over so often when that happens; it's because hollows are creatures of instinct." Urahara gave the group time to think about this.
"Wait- are you telling us that Kurosaki has always had a desire to kill, slaughter, and maim without regrets?" Kyoraku asked, eyes wide. Urahara hesitated slightly, but nodded.
"Everybody does, actually. We all feel the need to hurt someone sometimes. We all repress it some way. For Ichigo-kun, he represses it with his desire to protect. When he was younger, before his mother was killed, he repressed it with happiness; he was content with his life. Everyone, deep down, wants to destroy. Not for any other reason other than they just want to watch the world burn. Because he is a warrior, that desire tends to be a little sharper for Ichigo-kun. The reason he couldn't control that black rage before he was a Shinigami was because Ichigo-kun was made for battle. He's designed for war. Every aspect of him. It's not his fault; his parents' fault, in fact. Ichigo-kun is just screwed by genetics." Everyone sat in silence, before Ishida-san asked slowly,
"Wait, you said parents'. Is there something about Kurosaki's mother that we should know about?" Urahara just grinned at Ishida-san.
"Sorry Ishida-san, but there's so much about Ichigo-kun that he doesn't know about. Until he knows, I'm afraid that I can't tell you."
"Everything would be so much easier if you just told Ichigo everything outright." Renji muttered.
"Valid point." Kyoraku said, sipping sake. "So why don't you, Urahara-san?" Urahara flipped a fan into existence and hid behind it.
"Because it's fun." When Byakuya narrowed his eyes and began to pull out his zanpakuto, Urahara was reminded of the short temper he had, though you wouldn't think so, looking at the man outright. Urahara sighed. "Because with the amount of power Ichigo-kun possesses, and the amount he can easily gain, he could cause the both worlds to burn. It keeps him humane this way."
"I think I should finish explaining the reiatsu from earlier, his blackouts, and his soul sleep and soul chain." Urahara said quietly. Everyone nodded. "Anyways!" The atmosphere of the room changed from heavy to feather-light in a second.
"So, when Ichigo-kun became a Shinigami, with powers of his own, his reiatsu was freed from being cramped up in his soul form. The little bits that were shoved down in his soul were finally allowed to expand and grow. My theory is that it's very possible for Ichigo-kun to have quite a bit of reiatsu hidden deep inside him stuff. When his survival instinct takes over, those bits immediately grow and expand, to prepare for battle, and on their way towards his soul sleep and soul, it brings out the remanants of reiatsu of his friend and the hollow, and just throws them out. Granted, survival instinct would usually immediately dive towards the soul sleep for more instinctual moves, but if it can't find his soul sleep, it tries to pull something else forward, which causes Ichigo-kun to black out. You getting this so far?" Urahara paused to ask. Everyone nodded.
"So, it's very possible that the friend that gave Ichigo her soul chain and soul sleep, however she managed to do that, is Kuroi Ryuu. The assassins either had that figured out and tried to get her soul chain and soul sleep to trace her, or they thought Ichigo-kun was Kuroi Ryuu."
"Then we have to find her as soon as possible, don't we?" Hinamori-chan asked quietly. Urahara covered his cocky smile with his fan and nodded.
"And when Ichigo-kun wakes up, he should remember her face and name." He said, a pleasant look on his face.
"Sometimes you think he plans it all." Ishida-san said, rolling his eyes.
"While this is all working out nicely, what will we do if he does not remember?" Byakuya inquired menacingly. Though everything he did felt menacing, even if his demeanor outright wasn't. Urahara shrugged.
"Rule number one of sexy shopkeepers: always have a back up plan. Don't worry about it; I've got it covered." He assured them, still grinning.
"You do tend to do that..." Toshiro-san muttered.
"Urahara-san, why is it that while you refer to the girls using chan, the only male you refer to using kun is Kurosaki-san?" Hinamori-chan wondered. Urahara's grin grew bigger.
"Because I've known him since he was very little. Due to Isshin, Ryuuken and I, he probably doesn't remember me, but I still remember him coming bounding in the first day of kindergarten, babbling about how excited he was." Everyone was surprised by the tenderness in his voice. Ishida-san looked especially disturbed by his reference to his father. He sighed.
"I've had a soft spot for that kid all his life. I don't know how he did it, but when he was a little boy, he was a master of manipulating me to do whatever he wanted. I was like his fun uncle." He glanced at Ishida-san. "Isshin and Masaki never had any problem with me becoming involved in their lives. However, Ryuuken was the original stick-in-the-mud. You should have seen the look on his face when you ended up here by accident as a kid, and you and Ichigo-kun became the best of friends in half an hour. When Ryuuken came along, and tried to separate you two, he called Ichigo-kun "hybrid filth". As he was leaving, Ichigo-kun climbed up into the rafters and dropped a dictionary on his head. The two of you made a run for it." Urahara snorted with laughter at that memory. "You two were nearly inseparable after that, so Ryuuken erased your memory instead."
"Why are you only revealing this to all of us now?" Rukia asked suspiciously, though something was beginning to ache inside of her at the thought of a young Ichigo. Urahara shrugged.
"I'm old. I'm allowed to have my senior moments." He teased.
"Can you bring back my memory too?" Ishida-san asked quietly. What impact would it have on his life, if he could remember all of that?" Urahara considered this.
"Probably. I thought you didn't like Ichigo-kun?" Ishida-san sighed and shrugged.
"That doesn't meant that I wouldn't like to remember my life." Urahara grinned like a snake.
"I'll see what I can do, Ishida-san." The door to the room slid open, and Ichigo poked his head in, now in his regular body. His clothes were rumpled, orange hair ruffled, eyes half-lidded. Rukia's breath caught in her throat at the bedroom-style appearance Ichigo had attained from just waking up. Momo shifted uncomfortably too, red creeping up her neck and looking down. Don't be stupid. Rukia scolded herself. She had lived in his closet for a few months, had seen him wake up plenty of times and never felt what she was feeling now, whatever it was. But then again, he had been fifteen, and definitely still looked it. Now that he was seventeen, Ichigo had -physically- changed quite a bit. He manuevered his way in gracefully, despite looking half-asleep still. He plopped down on the ground by Ishida and Renji, eyes still half-lidded.
"So, what's going on?" He asked, his voice surprisingly low and husky. A shiver ran up Rukia's spine and she looked away, blushing madly. Damn that baka strawberry. Even though they were only nakama, she couldn't held but admit that Ichigo was a very attractive young man. Momo seemed to be having just as much trouble breathing in his sexy bedroom appearance. Unfortunately, everyone seemed to notice their reactions. Hitsugaya-taicho and Nii-sama frowned, though nii-sama's eyes narrowed considerably, like he wanted to scatter Ichigo's insides for daring to turn his sister on. Ishida rolled his eyes and pushed up his glasses, while Renji seemed to still be deciding what to do. Only Kyoraku and Urahara grinned.
"Ichigo-kun, while the bedroom looks fits you, perhaps you should wake up a bit as to not distract our female friends here, and to not incur the wrath of certain older brothers?" Ichigo blinked hard.
"That's okay, I've incurred his wrath before. I'll be fine." He managed out sleepily, probably not really thinking much of what he was saying. His drowsy voice seemed to get to Rukia even more, and both her and Momo turned redder. As red as...strawberries. The irony was not lost on her, and she had to shove down a fit of laughter. Renji sighed and whacked the orange-haired teen on the back of the head.
"BAKA! WAKE UP!" Ichigo's eyes widened and he punched Renji in the kidney, hard enough to make Renji gasp in pain.
"Jeez! Wasn't that a little violent? I would have completely woken up in a minute or two anyways!" Though Rukia still considered Ichigo relatively attractive, she was able to breathe again without her breath hitching in her throat. Momo was just as relieved.
"So, Ichigo-kun, how much do you remember?" He winced.
"More than I'd like to. Turns out during the black outs...I was rather violent. I'm sorry, Ishida." He said, turning his head to direct his apology. Ishida sighed and pushed up his glasses.
"You've already apologized, Kurosaki. Numerous times." Ichigo bit his lip and put his head down.
"It's different now that I remember doing it. Well...sort of."
"Sort of?" Toshiro asked, frowning.
"My perception of what was going on was slightly warped, but I know what I did." Ichigo explained.
"What about your memories before, from when you were a kid?" Rukia stammered out, still feeling awkward in his presence. She found it endearing how he was ashamed, though she wanted to hit herself for thinking of it. Baka strawberry. He shrugged.
"Sort of hazy, but I remember a lot of it. I spent a lot of time here. Actually, I remember meeting Yoruichi too, when I was about four or five." He explained.
"What about Ishida's father?" Kyoraku asked. A smirk spread across Ichigo's face.
"That I remember unusually clearly. It was nice seeing him hit the floor." Ishida burst out laughing, and Ichigo grinned at him. "You know you would enjoy that particular memory too." Ishida admitted that he would. "I also remember you. You were a strange child." Ishida's face darkened, and he crossed his arms, so Ichigo added on, "But then again, I remember playing around with mod souls and spending all day reading Shingami practical theory books when it was raining, so who am I to judge?"
"Or playing tag with Yoruichi." Urahara put in. He glanced to the rest of the room. "Ichigo-kun discovered Shunpo by accident at the age of four. Yoruichi took it upon herself to educate him. Now that Ichigo-kun remembers, his Shunpo should be much faster. Probably even as fast as Yoruichi's, without him going Bankai." They gaped at Ichigo. Since his was a compression type Bankai, wherever he improved, Shikai, Bankai, all his techniques and skill was compressed. So naturally, if he could go Bankai speed without going Bankai, his Bankai speed would be...unholy.
"Damn it Ichigo, why do you have to be a better prodigy than Tosh-I mean Hitsugaya-taicho?" Renji demanded, teasingly at first, and then worried as he almost called Toshiro exactly that, in front of his taicho, who tended to be big on respect. Byakuya narrowed his eyes dangerously at his fukutaicho. Ichigo, however, was oblivious to this, and grinned at Renji.
"Because it's fun." The entire room looked at him, as Urahara-san had spoken those exact words not too long ago. How much of an impact had the shopkeeper really had on Ichigo when he was younger?
"Kurosaki, I hate to interrupt this, but we really need to know the name of the girl who gave you her soul chain and soul sleep." Kyoraku said. The half smile faded from Ichigo's face. Suddenly his eyes widened.
"Oh my god." He muttered, looking like he'd seen a ghost.
"What?" Rukia noticed, sounding worried.
"Her last name. I couldn't quite remember it before, but it's clear now. It's because of her that I thought you seemed familiar, Rukia, when you listed off the noble houses." Rukia frowned, and so did Byakuya, seeming instinctively.
"Ichigo-kun, what was her name?" Urahara asked. Ichigo looked down.
"This may just be a crazy coincidence, but it probably isn't..."
"Kurosaki, spit it out already." Ishida demanded, covering his curiousity with irritability. It took Ichigo a second to meet their eyes.
"Her name was Ayame. Shiba Ayame." The room fell silent.
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hey!...again...so anyways, there was some one-sided ichi/ruki this chapter, and lots of urahara/ichigo fluff- fun uncle and rambunctious...NEPHEW! well, sort of, you'll see their connection later. i might be going into why the shiba clan was kicked out of the noble families next chapter, hope somebody else was curious as to why that happened...
so anyways, i still don't have a pair decided, well toshiro/karin is a definite, because i think those two are cute together and that momo can be annoying as hell, though i did like her before she went catatonic, even if she went fangirl over aizen.
but when it comes to ichigo? i know that there might be some ichi/ruki ichi/hime stuff, but it'll be one-sided for now, though i know ichigo is never, ever gonna end up with orihime. i guess we'll just see who i'll pair him with (and no, its not certain that there will be ichi/ayame. IT HAS NOT BEEN DECIDED!)
so the seventh chapter will be up sometime tomorrow, but don't expect it until later. but stay tuned!
...and so the plot thickens...