No disrespect intended to those who served in Vietnam or their kin.

I don't own Bleach or Vietnam. (Haven't you figured that out yet?)


1968, ????, ???, ???, ???

'BOOM!' 'Popopopopopopop'

"Oh shit! We're under attack!"

"Medic!"

"That's a negative on air support. We're in our own attack."

Ichigo sat up straight, holding back a shriek of pain as he did so. That fall hadn't killed him, but it had damn well came close to doing so. His nightmare of the previous battle had woken him up well after dark, as the jungle around him was nearly pitch black. A cursory examination of his body told him he hadn't broken any bones, but had sustained several deep cuts as well as various small cuts and bruises. He had also lost his gun in the process of falling through the trees.

Groaning, he stood up and took off in the direction he had been flying into, knowing he needed to get out of there before VC found him.


1968, 2200 local time, My Long, Vietnam.

Shiro stood up. He had been waiting for news of Ichigo, but after waiting for three hours, he'd had enough of waiting. He headed for the door, slinging his gun over his shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going, boy?"

"Where do ya think I'm goin'? To go ge' the King."

"No you're not." Urahara pulled his pistol out and pointed it at Shiro. "You and I both know Ichigo isn't alive. Even if he survived the fall, the VC would have got him. You just hope they didn't."

"Yeah? Better'n jus' waitin' for news that will never come." Shiro headed for the door again.

"Chad, Grimmjow, hold him down."

Shiro almost made it to the door before feeling two strong arms pulling him back and pinning him to the floor.

"Dammit! Lemme go!"

"Settle down, brat." Grimmjow planted an arm on the back of Shiro's neck for good measure.

"Alright, here's the deal, you stay here, and I'll tell you about the time before you guys were here. The search team should be back by then." Urahara placed the pistol back in its holster.

"And if I don' stay?"

"Well, I'll just have to arrest you for going AWOL with government equipment."

The albino finally stopped struggling.

"Good. Now get up here and I'll start." Urahara leaned back into his chair, tipping it up on two legs, and began, " I was the leader of the team that you replaced. A couple months before you came, my team was sent out to verify a major VC trail...

'Kaboom' A grenade exploded, sending the GI's scrambling for cover. The team leader, a familiar boonie cap on his blond head, felt sick. He'd led his team...no, his BROTHERS, straight into an ambush. He yelled for the radio man to come over, his voice barely making it over the sound of gunfire.

A boy with reddish hair came running, the radio in hand.

'Whooom!' Another grenade hit, and for a moment Urahara could see nothing. When the dust cleared, the boy was gone, along with the radio. "Jinta!" Urahara crawled over to where the boy had been. All that was left was a few charred limbs. Apparently, the grenade had hit him directly. It had also destroyed the radio beyond saving. Unfortunately, that had been their only radio.

Urahara found the nearly obliberated dog tags and tucked them into his pocket. 'WHOOMPH!' A mine went off close by, killing the team's point leader and best sniper, Shinji Hirako and Kensei Muguruma. Urahara seized his gun and let loose, barely even aiming.

A bush next to him moved. He whipped around, preparing to shoot the bush and what ever was in it to none existance. A hand reached out and threw the barrel up, then managed to westle the gun out of his grip. 'No matter!' He thought, pulling a knife out of his boot. He'd just shove this nice little toy up the VC's neck.

"Hey! It's me, Aizen! Calm down!" Said man pulled himself out of the bush, revealing his face. "Everyone's dead! We need to get out of here now!"

Aizen grabbed Urahara by the arm and began to haul him through the thick brush. The river was only a couple miles away, they could find a boat and ride back to base. They just had to make it before the VC figured out that there were missing members.

"...and as you can see, I'm still alive. Aizen and I were the only survivors of that attack. We were sent home for a while,and he introduced me to his...boyfriend, Ichimaru Gin. Nice guy, actually. But we couldn't stay in the civilian world. No, they spit on us and called us 'baby-killers'. We, who were trying to save another country, were insulted and beat for it." Silence filled the room.

...

'Wham' The door slammed open, disturbing the silence. An officer came through it, and stood in front of Urahara.

"Sir, I am sorry to tell you this, but we cannot find any trace of Cpl. Ichigo Kurosaki -"

"WHAT!? Then search harder!" Shiro leapt forward, throwing the poor man to the floor.

'Well, that went well' Urahara thought.

"Shiro!" That is enough!" Ishida yelled. "You can get your ass fried for that!"

Chad place a large hand on the albino's shoulder, along with a warning squeeze. The officer immediately took his chance and ran for the door.

As soon as he was gone, Shiro threw Chad's arm off, then sat down. He had a choice here, he could either go out and get himself killed looking for a dead man, or, he could stay put and not know whether Ichigo was dead or alive. He decided to stay put, Ichigo would kill him if he went and got himself kilt. 'Of course, thats if he's alive.' Shiro thought bitterly.


1968, 0100 local time, ???, Vietnam.

Ichigo had been walking a couple hours now, and it was starting to take its toll on him. 'There should have been a building around here!' He thought. He nearly fell as a clearing suddenly opened in front of him. There, illuminated with the moonlight, was a house in the corner of the clearing. He ran toward it.

Ichigo crashed though the nearest door he could find, sending himself sprawling out on the floor. He laid there for a moment before a thud in the other room convinced him to at least stand up again and pretend he was armed.

A light made its way through what was apparently a hall. It was a man holding a candle. The man stopped short, realizing just what had invaded his house. His eyes widened in shock.

Ichigo quickly sorted through his limited Vietnamese, and asked the man if he had some bandages or a substitute. The man nodded and went to a back room for a moment, then came back. He handed Ichigo some slightly dirty pieces of what looked like a former sheet torn to short pieces. Ichigo sat down and began to wrap his deeper cuts.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the man pull a gun.

'Bam!'

It missed. Ichigo had ducked to the side just in time. He pulled a knife and jumped at the man, stabbing deep. Blood washed over his hands, thick and warm. His attacker let out one last sigh as his life's blood drained away.

Ichigo finished wrapping his wounds, then quickly verified the fact that nobody else was in the house or close by. He would stay here for the night, then head back later. For now he just needed some sweet, sweet sleep...


Authors Note:

AWOL: Absence WithOut Leave. I don't really know what the did if you ran off with government equipment, but I assume they would have court marshialed you or something. But mostly, Urahara is just trying to make Shiro stay. (If you hadn't noticed lol)

And yes, I'm working to make my chapters longer! Don't attack me!

Also, I just wanted to make a comment here. The other day, I was reading about the 4 yr old kid who shot his baby sitter because he didn't want to do something. Before that was the 8 yr old kid who managed to shoot himself in the head with an Uzi (On a gun range). Today it was the 6 yr old kid who accidently shot his mom.

Now for the point, how does the 4 yr old and the 6 yr old, get a loaded gun? Was it just sitting on the coffee table, fully loaded, safety off? Or who the hell gives a KID an Uzi!? Okay, rant over. Go do your stuff and have a nice day.*Waves*