Disclaimer: I wrote a song about how I don't own Bleach. It was immediately scrapped on grounds of being a safety hazard.

EDIT: Chapter edited and fixed as of the 12/16/12 update. Pretty sure I missed stuff, should get a beta reader.

This chapter is brought to you by metric fucktons of instant noodles!

The First Guardian

Chapter Eight – Music and a Particular Lack of Rain.

There were several things that made her happy. And very, very few things that could make her angry or sad.

Rukia thought herself fairly simple, even though she was from a noble family and a lot was expected of her, she always believed she could sum herself up to 'serious hard worker with a slight sense of humor'.

The warm sun in the mornings when she allowed herself to sleep in made her happy. A nice breakfast not too soon after waking up but not too late either made her feel great. Not taking much time to pick out her clothes by having the perfect outfit for the day ready since the night before (and lately, she was picking out someone else's outfits, too), made her feel efficient. When at work, a single cut through a Hollow's Mask with minimal effort was her norm, and she felt very professional when she did it fast and without hesitation.

Being professional also made her happy.

Then there were the other things – things outside of her own behavior that made her happy. Her adoptive older brother, while distant and somewhat cold (so she was understating things, so what? Being biased towards your family is normal), made her feel immense pride whenever she saw him and thought of just how she was related to him now. Her own captain constantly praised her achievements, and his approval was just another reason for her to push herself to be better at what she did.

Once, her Nii-sama had seen her training with her Shikai, and while he had not shown any sort of surprise at her skills, she could tell he was impressed and pleased. The look and the nod he gave her as he left the premises made her feel happy for months.

As for the things that made her angry… well, she wouldn't fool herself thinking she didn't have a temper. Living in the Rukongai with Abarai Renji ensured that she get violently mad on a nearly daily basis. But she was a Kuchiki, she had to keep her cool and think things through before caving someone's skull in with her fists just because that person was being annoying. So she could say that she controlled her anger.

As for being sad, she could only recall a few moments in her life that she could qualify as being sad. When a person she admired, Shiba Kaien… passed away, for lack of need to elaborate, she felt crushed; she didn't think she would ever recover from that, especially considering the circumstances surrounding the incident. And before that, she was separated from her friends at the Shinigami Academy, including Renji, when she was taken in by the Kuchiki clan.

Right now, the circumstances surrounding her life changed tremendously – not even in her wildest dreams could she have seen changes of this magnitude. She pondered this as she lay with her face buried in a pillow with a scent that she really liked, on a bed that wasn't even hers, in the room of the person in the middle of all the changes.

For once, she was no longer in Soul Society – but that was something she had come to terms with when she accepted the short-term (for a Shinigami) assignment to Karakura Town. Then she thought of the fact that she had lost her powers – living for a while without them had made her accept it without mourning much, so she couldn't say that this should make her depressed.

Not anymore, at least.

But then the next set of circumstances came to mind: She was going to be labeled a criminal, persecuted and subsequently executed by none other than the person whose approval she once wanted the most.

She laughed into the pillow, for two reasons, both filled with equal parts incredulity and surprise.

One, for some reason, her Nii-sama's approval looked so… unimportant now. She was now experiencing bigger things – things that made her get a wider perspective of her own world, and most of all, realize whose approval mattered the most to her.

Her own approval came first in the order of priority, and then, surprisingly, the orange-topped lunatic's.

And number two, in a small part of her mind she had ignored until now, she believed that all of it – the bad circumstances and the worst that had yet to come – was completely worth it.

And once again, it was because of Kurosaki Ichigo.

She was done crying at how unfair it was that now that she had an inkling of what she wanted the most, it was probably going to be taken away before she had the courage to do anything about it. She was trained to adapt to circumstances and accept loss, after all.

Besides, crying into his pillow would make him realize something was up.

And possibly spoil his scent.


Ichigo was starting to get annoyed; a certain petite Shinigami was getting absurdly dominating, and not in a 'good way as' his Zanpakutō felt the need to point out.

First, she refused to let the mod-soul, which he insisted should be referred to as Megatron, take over his body and go to school in his stead.

Second, she refused to even give the slightest bit of trust to Kon (what she so fiercely insisted was the name of the mod-soul. Seriously, 'Kon'? Calling a Kaizō Konpaku 'Kon' was about as imaginative as calling an airplane 'Plane'), saying he was to be used only in very, very dire circumstances. This was all after he spent four hours talking her into not taking the pill back to Urahara.

Third, she refused to let him fetch an actual robot to put the newly-acknowledged mod-soul in. It made perfect sense to him, if he was going to call him Megatron, then the fellow needed a robotic body. She called him crazy and then actually managed to slap the back of his head, while saying for the hundredth time that its name was 'Kon'.

"I do believe things are getting a tiny little bit out of hand, Ichigo."

Ichigo rolled his eyes, leave it to his sword to point out the obvious.

"She's picking out your clothes, telling you when to shower, when to stop doing things and all of this without even a honeymoon."

Also leave it to his sword to point out that the only thing wrong with the situation was that he was not getting laid for it.

"But you like it."

Ichigo nearly cracked his head against the bathroom's door frame as he realized that yes, he really liked it.


"Absolutely not."

"Now, you're just being unreasonable. See, me and this guy here," he pointed at… himself, or at least, his body, which was occupied by Megatron, sitting beside him on the bed, "Have come to a mutually beneficial agreement.

Rukia crossed her arms and took a deep breath; she willed her eyebrow to not twitch. And failed.

"And that would be?"

Ichigo smiled pleasantly, "He behaves and doesn't do… whatever he did the other day again, and we don't turn him in to be destroyed."

The mod-soul just HAD to complain, "Extortion and death threats, Rukia-nee-chan!"

Rukia wasn't convinced.

"What guarantee do you have that he won't just run away with your body the moment we take our eyes off him?" She really, really wanted to diffuse the situation. She didn't want to hang around the mod-soul much; she would have to pretend to be friendly with this crazed being at school. And more than friendly in front of the Kurosaki family.

Cue bile rising.

Ichigo sighed; "Megatron-" Rukia gritted her teeth and muttered 'Kon', "- is not a bad guy, Rukia. He just had a short moment in which the idea of freedom went to his head. He's actually pretty nice if you bother to talk to him without glaring," He gave Rukia an amused look, "Give him a chance, that's all I ask."

Rukia had to suppress a sigh; she knew the battle was now lost. Ichigo was a good judge of character – he'd not better than her. She still had to keep trying, though.

"I'm not sure…" Rukia nearly slapped herself "You call that trying? Might as well say yes, already."

"Don't worry. Megatron won't do anything I wouldn't."

And Rukia's brain screeched to a halt for a moment, before backpedaling and realizing just what he had said.

"That makes me worry even more, you Moron!"

"Holy shit, Ichigo. I've been doing this for years and yet I haven't managed that capital M."

Kon raised his hand, "Umm… Rukia-nee-chan," her eye twitched again. "I promise I won't do any drinking," double twitch, "or groping," triple twitch, "or arson," masterful eye twitch combo, there, "or jaywalking."

Rukia actually sighed this time, if only to stave off the seemingly inevitable aneurysm.

"Alright, but at the first sign of trouble, I'm turning you in to Urahara, or better yet, I'll crush you into dust."

Kon nodded so fast Ichigo thought he'd break his body's neck.

"I'm getting soft." Rukia thought, "Stupid Ichigo."

"However." Rukia said loudly and pointing her finger to make a point. "You cannot have Ichigo's body all the time."

Ichigo nodded, he figured that made sense. Kon protested, though. "Why not? I said I wouldn't do anything-"

"It doesn't matter what you do or don't do. That is the body Ichigo uses to go on with his daily life. Besides, do you think his family wouldn't find out? His sisters could tell you're not him from several miles away."

Ichigo smiled, truer words had never been spoken in this context.

"He's going to need a body though." Ichigo said as he nodded to himself. "There is this Toyota robot that-"

"You're not stealing a robot!" Now this was something Rukia was NOT going to give up on. "Oh god, he almost pouted." She thought Ichigo looked cute just now.

Kon was actually pouting, but Rukia thought it looked weird on him.

The woman makes no sense.

"Then what do you suggest we do? I wanna be able to talk to him without feeling like I'm practicing a speech on a mirror."

"I want my very own Megatron, damn it."

"Can you put a mod-soul in an eighteen-wheeler?"

"I don't think so. Besides, I'd have to name him Optimus if I did."

"I prefer Optimus."

"Me too, but Megatron sounds infinitely cooler."

"We must obey the rule of cool."

Rukia smirked, "I just thought of something." She walked to her closet and pulled something out of it.

Kon sputtered in indignation.

Ichigo looked between annoyed and amused.

Rukia's smirk widened as she held out the lion-shaped plushy that had been a gift from Sado.


Ichigo was running to Urahara Shōten, he felt ready for what would be his third go at the Stairway of Doom and the Little Kids from Hell.

He took a break of a week after the last session; mostly to recover his wounded pride at getting the snot kicked out of him by what he was sure came out of some lolicon ecchi manga.

"Like the one Keigo showed me last year."

"I really wish you were more like him."

"Now you want me to be a pedophile?"

"Well, Rukia is very small…"

And he crashed against a utility pole.

"You just pictured her in a little girl's clothes." It wasn't even a question.

Ichigo peeled his face off the wooden pole. "Shut the fuck up, for once."

He dusted himself off and walked into the alley leading to Urahara's shop. A very amused-looking Urahara was all the proof he needed to know that he had seen him crash against that pole.

"Welcome once more to my humble store, dear customer! Do you wish to sample some of our products or are you here for your customary beating?" He was fanning himself as if he hadn't just alluded to Ichigo's pain.

Ichigo's hand inched towards the hilt of his sword. Kisuke had really gotten familiar with him, to the point of knowing how to piss him off.

"Shut it, bucket-asshole."


He was running up and down the stairway again, constantly dodging and swearing like never before. Urahara decided to add a new rule, he was not allowed to turn back half-way up or down the stairway, if he was going up, he had to make it all the way up before being able to turn back down and vice-versa.

This made more predictable, which Jinta and Ururu exploited.

Ichigo was not making any advance, and was quietly beginning to consider asking the shop keeper to tone the training down a little bit.

"You wuss."

He gritted his teeth as he felt yet another rib crack from a punch courtesy of Ururu.

"I'm missing something."

"I don't think you've lost any teeth yet."

"Not that, you asshole. It's like there's something about this training that I'm not seeing. Brute-forcing it so far hasn't worked, and I'm not allowed to use Shunpō. Dodging became ridiculously hard the moment I became unable to turn around, and going to the sides is also hard because there's two of them, so they just each take one side and wait for me."

And then it clicked, and he nearly let Ururu punch his face in.

"For the love of Thor, Jesus, and Izanagi! I'm such an idiot!"

"It only took you fifteen years to realize it."

He now knew what he had to do, began running up, and then to one side, the much faster Ururu was right there in front of him, he walked until he was just outside of her arm's reach and stopped. Ururu didn't react outwardly, but she had been expecting him to turn back up or around, not just stop.

"Now!"

Ichigo jumped, and Ururu's eyes widened just a little bit when she saw Jinta's enormous bat coming towards her from left to right in a horizontal swing, she didn't have a time to dodge and was slammed against the stairway.

"Can't attack either of them. But I can make them hit each other."

Ichigo landed behind Jinta and used the boy's surprise to keep running up while yelling an incantation.

"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle! Hadō #63: Raikōhō!"

He thrust his left hand forward as he reached the top of the stairway, and an orb of lightning formed in front of his palm, the orb grew until it was as big as his head and then, with a very audible roar, lightning shot from it and hit the barrier.

The force of it nearly knocked Ichigo back; he really didn't want to know what it would be like to on the receiving end of the Fiery Lightning Howl.

The explosion that followed the lightning beam hitting the barrier left behind a huge cloud of dust. Ichigo watched, waiting for it to dissipate to see the results of his attack, even the now-recovered Ururu and Jinta were curious to see if he had succeeded.

As the barrier finally became visible, Ichigo squinted and saw that he had made a large crack that went halfway up the barrier. It quickly fixed itself, the crack disappearing, leaving it as pristine and mocking as always.

Ichigo smiled though, that was more than he had managed so far. He quickly turned around and rolled under Jinta's bat swing, then rolled to the side to avoid getting a crater carved into his torso by Ururu.

"I now know what I have to do."

"So do they, this is going to be harder now."

"I don't know if I can keep doing it."

But then he heard it, coming from the last position he remembered the shop keeper being at, a trumpet, playing a very familiar sound. It came from a boom box that Kisuke was now sitting on, and the famous Bill Conti theme from the also famous movie about a boxer came on.

"… This is seriously 'Gonna Fly Now', Ichigo."

"And it fucking fits."

"There's no way you can let yourself get kicked around now, not with such crowning music of awesome playing."

"I won't."

Pumped up like never before, Ichigo moved his neck, feeling a satisfying pop, before he smirked at the coming Jinta and Ururu.

"Urahara… the man is scary."

Kisuke planned out every part of this training and hid most of the genius in it behind a careless, perhaps sadistic, façade.


A very satisfied smile graced Urahara Kisuke's lips as he sat on the enormous speaker.

"Ah, come to join us, Yoruichi?"

Yoruichi Shihōin walked out from behind the speaker, she should have known better than sneaking up on this maniac.

"So the kid is good at Kidō, huh? Never thought the son of Isshin would turn out that way."

Kisuke almost snorted. Instead, he looked at Yoruichi in the way one looks at someone who just told you that you're actually the opposite sex you believed you were. "What're you talking about? Ichigo-san's not a Kidō type."

Yoruichi sat next to Urahara, closing her eyes in annoyance; it'd be hard to get him to give her a full answer just by asking.

So instead, she twisted his arm behind his back, and dropped the both of them to the ground in front of the speaker.

"Ow, ow! Yoruichi, what did I do now?" Urahara sounded desperate, obviously faking it.

"Just tell me what you're thinking for once!"

"Okay, okay, just – just let go of me! Arms don't bend so high up behind people's backs!"

Yoruichi thought about it for a second, then nodded and got up, letting Kisuke get up and dust himself off. He rubbed his arm and shot Yoruichi a look screaming 'puppy kicker!'

"… Thinking about what, exactly?"


Ichigo heard a very girly scream, and it distracted him enough to allow Jinta to nearly break his legs with his bat.

"Is some girl getting kidnapped or something?"


Kisuke was now sitting on the ground looking at a very, very satisfied Yoruichi sitting atop the loud speakers.

"You didn't-" he cleared his throat a bit; his voice came out very squeaky, "You didn't have to go for the jewels!" He noted her nails were longer, now.

"You're not talking." Yoruichi glared at him.

"Okay, okay. Jeez!" He stood up, wincing as he did, and walked very slowly towards her. He sat down and began, "So I told Ichigo I wanted him to focus on Kidō here, and also told him his focus using his Reiatsu would improve with this training, right?"

Yoruichi nodded slowly.

"Well, I told him to break down either of those barriers. To be honest, I didn't expect to so much a scratch them without using his Zanpakutō."

Her eyebrows rose. "Then why the Kidō training?"

Urahara took on a serious look. "It's not Kidō training. I'm training him to improve his reflexes and reaction time. By giving him the goal of using Kidō to hit the barriers I'm making him look for a way to get the time necessary to use it. By removing his ability to attack, I'm making him use both Ururu and Jinta against each other. Those kids are very versatile fighters, and in a duo, they can be very dangerous. The challenge here is for Ichigo to adapt to whatever situation those two create and turn it against them."

Yoruichi was surprised, and silently berated herself for not seeing it. This sort of thinking was crammed into the skulls of everyone in the Onmitsukidō.

"I figured the kid to be much like his father, a natural who rode the tide of the battlefield without giving it much thought." Yoruichi knew Isshin very well.

"He is. Dear god, the kid is the very definition of being a natural. The only reason it took him this long to do it was because he had not seen past my 'don't attack them' rule." He looked down to the ground, his hat shadowing his eyes as he spoke more to himself than to his companion, "He has very solid grounding on all the disciplines of the Shinigami, Hohō, Kidō, Hakuda, Zanjutsu, and even the healing Kidō arts. He has advanced in all of them farther than Shinigami that have been around for centuries in just two months. He achieved Shikai in that short term, and has a connection to his Zanpakutō like no other I've ever known of, and his mind…" He trailed off as he returned to watch Ichigo manipulate Ururu and Jinta into hitting each other.

Yoruichi decided not to ask any further, Kisuke obviously had not yet passed judgment on that matter. Or perhaps he still didn't comprehend Kurosaki Ichigo? She didn't know if that was amusing, or scary.


Ichigo phased into his room, it was about three in the afternoon, so he figured he could get back into his body, have some quick lunch and then hide for the rest of the day.

Instead, he got a hysteric Kuchiki Rukia.

"Why didn't you tell me? I had to find out from Yuzu, and it was hard to convince her that I was already aware and thought she was talking about something else!"

Ichigo backed up to the wall; he had to make Rukia stop hanging out with Tatsuki.

"What're you talking about, mid-"

"Your birthday, you moron! Why didn't you tell me it was today?"

"Oh."

Ichigo frowned, and Rukia was taken aback by the rather… sad look on his face.

"I… I don't celebrate my birthdays." He turned to the side and walked towards a somehow-still-asleep Kon.

Rukia didn't buy that, "What do you mean? Yuzu and Karin – well, Yuzu was preparing some cake for your birthday."

Ichigo felt a pang of guilt, but didn't turn around and instead looked out the window, "I… alright, it's… a bit of a long story, let's take a walk."


They were both walking alongside the river that ran along Karakura, Ichigo set a rather sedate pace and Rukia waited patiently for him to talk, she realized this was probably something difficult for him.

Ichigo stopped walking and turned towards the river. He crouched to pick up a stone and seemed to be weighing it on his right hand, then he threw it, it skipped along the river, jumping four times before sinking, but Ichigo didn't look at it, instead staring at his own reflection on the water.

"Do you remember…? Masaki? My mother?"

Rukia crouched next to him and looked at Ichigo's reflection.

"Yes."

Ichigo sighed, "When I turned nine years old... that was the last time we celebrated my birthday. That July 15th, the clinic had way too many patients for us to go out and celebrate. It was a bit of a tradition to go out on picnics; we're not much for parties." He picked up another stone. "Instead, we delayed it until two days later, and we went out on a picnic as usual." He threw the stone, this time watching it bounce before looking at Rukia, "That was the day a Hollow fooled me and killed my mother."

Rukia had figured halfway through the conversation that it was something like that; it still broke her heart to see the defeated look in his eyes. Sometimes it was hard to forget that Kurosaki Ichigo was also a human being with weaknesses, and his heart could be wounded just like any other.

"I haven't celebrated my birthday since then. I always find a place to hide or something else to do. Yet, Yuzu still makes sure to remind me and bake a cake; Karin actually puts in a token effort to make me eat it."

Rukia nodded slowly, "And your father?"

Ichigo snorted, "My dad is… strong."

He stood up and offered his hand to Rukia. She took it and the both turned to keep walking.

Rukia had to tell him how she felt about this, "It's not fair that you leave your sisters to carry the burden while you run away." Then she turned around and started walking back the way they came.

Ichigo stared after her with wide eyes; her words had just sunk in.

"Once again, she's right."

"She usually is. But, is it true? I've been getting stronger to stop that from happening ever again."

"That isn't facing the problem, Ichigo. That's no different from a man throwing himself at his work to forget about his problems back home. Your sisters have been trying all this time to be there for you on this day, the least you could do is do the same.

"This day… means as much for them as it does for you."

"Well?"

Ichigo blinked, he spaced out for quite a bit there. Rukia was just about to round a corner and looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "There are people waiting for you."

Ichigo smiled.

"And yet another time-"

"She's right, yeah."


They arrived at his home at sundown, and walked hand-in-hand through the door to find Yuzu carrying a cake towards the living room table.

"We're home."

Yuzu looked very, very happy. "Welcome home, Onii-chan, Nee-chan."

Even Karin was smiling. Isshin was uncharacteristically quiet, but his face threatened to split in two as he pulled out a box with candles.

Ichigo looked at Rukia and spoke quietly. "You know about human birthday celebrations?" Rukia nodded as she let go of his hand, "I actually do some research when you're not around, you know?"

"Yet you still need help when drinking from a juice box."

"Shut up, they're complicated."

"She's the one who's complicated."

"Oh for the love of- Ichigo, you're such a fucking idiot."

"What was that now?"

"Nothing, just the sound of me about to smash my face against a building. You clueless, generic hero."

He'd have inquired further but Isshin was now dragging him to take a seat, and trying to force a ridiculous party hat onto his head. Then Rukia took the hat and put it on his head herself, he grumbled and decided to humor her, for now.

He could swear he heard someone making the sound of a whip lash, but it was probably his imagination.


Ichigo now lay on his bed thinking about the day, Rukia was sitting on the desk next to it pretending to do some homework.

"Ichigo?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry about earlier."

"What're you going on about now?"

"Talking about your mother must have been hard, I'm sorry I intruded."

Ichigo closed his eyes and smiled, "It's okay, I… I'm glad I told you." He really felt better having spoken to someone about it.

Rukia now faced him and seemed to be considering something.

"… January 14th."

Ichigo opened his eyes, "What?"

"My birthday, January 14th."

He blinked, "Huh, I'll make sure to keep it in mind when it comes."

Rukia smiled and nodded, he'd hold him to that.

And any thoughts of him not being around when her birthday came didn't dare try to ruin her mood.


It was now the 17th and Ichigo made sure to get up even earlier than usual to arrange his thoughts. He decided that he'd at least try to be more positive on this day; his mother wouldn't want him to be so depressed, after all.

"Or get kicked by Rukia for being emo."

"I'm not emo, you bastard."

"All heroes have their emo phases, it's okay, and it's nothing to feel ashamed about… much."

"Ass."

"Breasts."

"What?"

"Ichigo, why are you up so early?"

Rukia was coming out of his closet rubbing her eyes with the sleeve of her (Karin's) pajamas.

"It's too damn cute."

"Breathe, Ichigo, breathe!"

"Did I wake you?"

Rukia shook her head while yawning, "I usually wake up every other hour during the night."

That was weird, "Why's that?"

"I don't know, but I use the time to check on- well, I check to see nothing weird's going on or anything like that."

She found the wall to be very interesting as she said that, but Ichigo didn't see it, it was still too dark.

"We're skipping school today." It wasn't a question; Rukia could tell something like that would happen.

"Yeah, it's the 17th we… usually visit mom's grave."

Rukia nodded slowly, she wasn't about to berate him for that.

"I'll… I'll find something to do for the day, then."

Ichigo blinked and squinted in Rukia's direction. "What're you talking about?"

"Well, it's a family moment, so I thought…"

"You're coming with me - with us. Dad would go on about how you're family and drag you with us. And I guess it couldn't hurt to have you there." He wouldn't just tell her that he sort of wanted her to be there.

Rukia knew Isshin to be like that, so she couldn't deny the truth in Ichigo's words. "Alright."

"Go back to sleep, it's still a few hours until we have to go. I was just… thinking about things."

She nodded and went back to her closet.

Ichigo was left alone to his thoughts, or well, his and his Zanpakutō's, at least.

"Before I point out the obvious, I'll just ask: Why do you want her there?"

"I guess… I could use the moral support?"

"She makes you stronger, doesn't she?"

"Isn't that what moral support is all about?"

He heard a snort. "Ichigo, you're such a buffoon."

Ichigo shook his head and turned to lie on his side facing the window, and let sleep claim him again. He felt good already.


The sky was blue as the Kurosaki family plus Rukia (Don't tell Isshin that) walked the streets of Karakura town towards the graveyard. They were going up a rather steep hill and Isshin was already acting like a court jester. Rukia tugged on Ichigo's sleeve.

"Why is he going up the hill doing a handstand, Ichigo?"

"Because he's an idiot, ignore him or he'll be on our backs the whole day."

Isshin caught up with Karin and Yuzu, the two of them were a bit farther ahead, and apparently tried to grab Yuzu from underneath, to which Karin responded by punting his face and sending rolling down the hill. Ichigo and Rukia moved aside to let the Ball of Stupid roll.

"This guy was a captain?" Oh if her brother knew about this…

"We're close now."

It was only two minutes later when they arrived at the graveyard. It wasn't much, just a traditional graveyard surrounded by a forest. They all walked through the pathways lined up by several graves.

"Ichigo, why does this grave say 'Choked on a grape?'"

"Probably because he did, Rukia."

"Who chokes on a grape and dies?"

"Ask the fellow when you see him."

She just shook her head and continued to read the grave stones as they passed, they were all fairly generic, but occasionally she came upon the strange (or hilarious) epitaph.

"This one says 'I told you I was sick'."

"When he's right, he's right."

"And that one says 'Stepped on the gas instead of the brake'."

"I won't contest that, either."

"This one says 'Rest in peace my dear adulterer'."

"Must have been quite the party guy."

"Ichigo?"

"Hmm?"

"What's an adulterer?"

He nearly choked on his own spit, but was saved from having to answer by Yuzu's announcement that they had arrived.

Isshin did as he usually did on this day, and stood in front of his mother's grave while smiling and mumbling things now and then.

Yuzu and Karin had a bit of a tradition of speaking to their mother about their year so far before splitting from the group and looking at the other graves, sometimes Yuzu forcing a reluctant Karin to play a bit of hide and seek, or tag.

Ichigo just walked around at a sedated pace, he had a new addition tailing him, though.

Rukia stepped beside Isshin and said a short prayer to Masaki as well as a mumbled 'thanks' before going after Ichigo and walking alongside him, she amused herself by looking at some more graves.

"I figured this place would be filled with Plus Souls or at least feel a bit gloomy, you know."

Ichigo answered that, "I think it's because people come visit those they loved here, and not being alone or perhaps knowing that their families and loved ones are safe let's them move on."

"Or there's a very diligent Shinigami around here."

"I hope not, the last Shinigami I met took over my closet."

He let himself be kicked in the shin for that comment, it was worth it.

"Moron."

"Midget."

Time passed fairly quickly as they gave in to idle chat and banter. They heard a whistle an hour after they split up from the group.

"What's that?"

"Dad usually blows a whistle to call us together. Let's go."


Karin had been letting Yuzu drag her around and doing whatever it was she wanted to do at the time. Really, if there was someone Karin could never even attempt to say 'no' to, it was her other half.

"I think dad's calling us."

Karin looked around, they had walked quite a bit in that short time, and they could barely hear his father's whistle.

Yuzu took Karin's hand and began walking in the direction she figured the whistle came from, but Karin stood her ground and looked at something she spotted over in the distance.

"Is that…?"

It was a girl, dressed in white. Karin couldn't help but think that she'd seen her somewhere else before.

"Yuzu, I think I know who that is."

"Really? Let's go say hello, then."

Karin nodded and led her sister towards the girl, but as they got closer, Karin began to get a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something was wrong; they should not have come so close to this…

"That's not a girl."

"Karin? What are you saying?"

Karin got between her sister and the now too-close-for-comfort girl.

"Yuzu, stay back, there's something behind the girl."


"Ichigo, where's Karin and Yuzu?" Isshin was still in front of Masaki's grave; the only difference from when they had left him was that he now held a lit cigarette between his lips.

"I didn't see them on my way here." Ichigo frowned, he figured Yuzu would have come running, dragging a protesting Karin behind her.

"Go find them, then. I'll stay and whistle if they return."

Ichigo nodded and started walking, Rukia right behind him, before his eyes widened as he felt something very familiar.

Rukia must have felt it as well, because she didn't protest as Ichigo lifted her up and ran towards the direction of the strange presence.

"Ichigo, it's a Hollow."

"Most likely, yeah."


The first sight that Ichigo arrived to made his blood run cold, and didn't even flinch when Rukia shoved the soul candy into his mouth.

Karin was holding onto a very shaken up Yuzu. In front of them was a black figure holding up a sword; a man, he saw. It was apparently doing battle with-

Ichigo's mind nearly shut down.

That mask, that sound, that presence and that permanent grin. He had seen it all before, and remembering just where he saw it before made him freeze.

The guy, a Shinigami, dodged under a tentacle of fur that the creature threw at him, only to be batted away by a second tentacle coming from the opposite direction at the same time. Ichigo was still frozen; his mind still didn't know how to react to this sight.

In that time, the Shinigami jumped at the creature seeing as how both the tentacles were stuck between some graves, but then a third one grew from the spot he was lunging at and impaled him.

The sight of blood made Ichigo snap out of it. He took his sword from his back and ran at the Hollow, he cut off the tentacle that had impaled the other Shinigami.

"Rukia, look after him." He then pointed his free left hand at the Hollow and whispered "Hadō #1: Shō".

The creature was blasted back by an invisible force, it was sent hurling through the trees of the forest surrounding the graveyard, and Ichigo jumped straight after it.

Rukia was left alone with the wounded Shinigami; she idly noted the guy was wearing a Sugegasa on his head, a traditional, conical hat.

The Shinigami wasn't moving, and Rukia began to panic as she didn't know how to deal with an unconscious-

And then he snored.

Rukia had to refrain herself from kicking the guy, all of this and he was only asleep? She didn't feel she had to waste what little energy she had healing him – Shinigami could take a lot of punishment before they actually needed assistance, and if this guy could sleep through it, then he would be just fine.

She stood up and in the direction she saw Ichigo and the Hollow going.

Everyone seemed to have forgotten about Kon, who was left standing next to the sleeping Shinigami.

"Well, uh… what the shit do I do with you?"


Ichigo considered the figure of the Hollow, which was still trying to turn around on its feet as it was still recovering from weak (Or so Ichigo figured) Thrust spell.

It was a big ball of fur standing on chicken legs with the ugliest mug Ichigo had seen. From the top of its mask, a flesh-like tentacle stood up, and on the tip of it hung the figure of-

That confirmed it for Ichigo; it was the figure of the girl he saw that day.

The day this bastard killed his mother.

"Hey, you ugly ball sack."

The Hollow was now back on its feet, and turned to look at Ichigo with unrestrained anger, but then the look turned to one glee.

"I remember you."

Ichigo gritted his teeth, "I remember you as well."

"Yes, I remember. Because of you I got to feed on a most delicious soul."

Ichigo's scowl somehow got deeper and he looked away from the Hollow's face to stare at the ground in front of him, he was slowly beginning to hyperventilate.

"Do you want her back, boy?"

Ichigo's breathing quickened.

"I could give her back to you; all you have to do is choose to serve me."

His grip on his sword began to feel painful.

"There was word around that there was a strong Shinigami walking around this town. I, Grand Fisher, came here to feed on his soul, but I think you and I can come to a mutually beneficial agreement."

"Shut up."

If the Hollow was taken aback, he didn't show it. "Don't believe me? See for yourself."

The girl hanging from the tip of the Hollow's tentacle morphed, and it took on the shape of Kurosaki Masaki.

Ichigo stopped breathing.

Rukia had arrived to see Ichigo talking with the Hollow, she felt the need to interfere and help Ichigo, but the words of her mentor echoing in her mind stopped her.

"There are two types of fights. Whenever we are in battle, we must be in one of the two. The fight for life or…the fight for pride."

This was a fight Ichigo would have to face alone. If she interfered then she would only end up hurting his pride. This fight was his right, and she'd be damned before dare to taint his honor.

Ichigo only looked at the figure of his mother for a short moment, it was moving her lips as if saying something, but sound was something Ichigo could not register at the moment. His gaze then moved past the figure and towards the Hollow.

The creature, for a moment, felt it had made a mistake.

Ichigo disappeared and was at the Hollow's side in the blink of an eye, a splatter of blood and a flying limb was the only evidence that he had cut off both of the Hollow's front legs.

"You're pathetic."

The Hollow howled in pain as it fell on its face, swearing at Ichigo and willing its fur tentacles to attack the Shinigami.

Ichigo just jumped back and absently cut off the tentacles as they came, his sword becoming a blur in front of him. Quite a feat for something so massive.

"Lately, I've seen Hollows get stronger as well as smarter. I can see you're stronger than the norm, and I'd say you have some brains since you have the ability to cook up plans like this.

"But I can't help but notice that you're also a coward."

Ichigo flashed again and appeared on top of the Hollow, just standing there as suddenly the Hollow's bait tentacle exploded in a shower of blood.

"Using my mother against me was cowardly. And it has only served to make your death more painful."

Ichigo then spun around as several fur tentacles came from every direction, effectively cutting all of them. Then he held his sword, point down, with both hands before he let out a war cry as he stabbed the Hollow with it.

Before the Hollow had time to try and pull the sword out, Ichigo had already pulled it out and was once again standing in front of Grand Fisher.

"But then again… I don't think my mother would like to see me like this."

With that, Ichigo took a stance, his body turned to the side and with his legs spread; his sword behind him held in a reverse grip, it began to glow with Spiritual Energy.

Rukia's eyes widened as she felt the climb in Ichigo's Reiatsu.

"So let's end it - Getsuga Tenshō!"

He swung his sword from behind his back horizontally, and as it passed between him and the Hollow, a beam of very erratic-looking blue energy flew from it straight at the Hollow. It hit its mask dead-on and from there split into several beams of cutting energy that ran all over the creature's body. It let out a loud wail of pain as it was reduced to nothing.

Ichigo stood still, and slowly put his sword behind his back, he looked up to the sky as he felt a couple of drops of water landing on him.

"Ichigo."

"Yeah?"

"It's… not raining."

And it wasn't, Ichigo smiled at the sky as he felt something not quite water running down his face. The weight of the world suddenly felt so much lighter than it ever had.

"I know."


Ichigo walked along with Yuzu and Karin towards his father, Rukia had gone to check on the wounded Shinigami. He still couldn't quite believe the guy fell asleep with a gaping hole through his stomach.

"Oh, you found them."

Isshin acknowledged them with a nod, "Yuzu, Karin, go play for a little bit but don't go too far again. I want to talk to Ichigo about something."

Ichigo didn't feel nervous as he thought he would, even if his father brought up the fact that he was a Shinigami just now, he would take it in stride and talk about it as calmly as the conversation needed.

"Ichigo, do you remember why I smoke on this day?"

Ichigo nodded. Masaki, his mother, had only ever complimented Isshin's appearance once; and she had only said that he looked cool as he smoked.

He then blinked in surprise, his father was looking at him with the proudest eyes he had ever seen, he was holding out something for Ichigo.

"You're strong, son. Karin may be able to hold it all in, and Yuzu may have taken over so many of Masaki's duties, but it was you being a pillar of strength that held this family together, and now…"

Ichigo looked at what Isshin was holding out for him, it was a cigarette.

"Your mother always complimented your looks; let's see if you can pull off a 'cool look', eh?"

At any other instance, Ichigo would have slapped away the cancer-stick and punched his father in the face, but for some reason this moment felt… right. He took the cigarette and put it between his lips, his father held out a lighter to turn it on, the rain was light and it wouldn't turn off either the cigarette or the lighter.

"Just don't make it a habit if you do."

Ichigo willed himself to not go through a coughing fit as he knew all first-timers were wont to do, his eyes did tear up a little bit, though not enough to be noticed.

"Well, what do you know; I think you look better than I do."


Rukia was very surprised as he saw Kon in his lion plushy form and the now-awake Shinigami telling each other extremely lewd jokes. The sight would have been comical had it not been for the blood in the Shinigami's clothes and the nature of their talk. They stopped when they finally noticed her, and Kon managed to make a plushy look really nervous.

"Rukia-nee-san!"

"Ah, Kuchiki Rukia, the woman I wanted to see."

Rukia blinked, "Huh?"

"Hey, what's with the look, no respect for your senpai, Eikichirō Saidō?"

Rukia blinked again and gave the guy a deadpan look.

"… Who?"

The guy face faulted, and mumbled something like 'so cruel, princess.'

"I was sent here to check up on you, you've been here too long."

Rukia frowned, "I don't have to report for another month."

The guy looked surprised, "That's not how… hmm." He seemed to think about it as he brought his hand to his chin.

Something was up, and this guy was not part of it, Rukia could tell, he was just as surprised about it as she was.

"Still, I can see why you would want to stay. You got yourself quite a handsome catch. Oh the pleasures of the flesh…"

Rukia was now sure she didn't like the guy.

"I guess… I'll just say you had an unexpected delay, and it will take some time before you get to return, huh?"

Rukia's anger disappeared, "Why?"

Eikichirō scratched the back of his head, "I guess I can understand, that's all. Besides, there's something… But I won't trouble you with that."

The man, Eikichirō, was perceptive, and Rukia decided to accept this gesture from him, even if his reasons seemed a bit outlandish. Something really was up; she'd have to tell Ichigo afterwards.

"That guy… Ichigo, if Megatron here was truthful."

She glared at the plushy, but restrained herself from correcting the Shinigami lest she confuse him.

"What about him?" She was on her guard; Ichigo was a sensitive territory to speak of with another Shinigami. Her territory, no less.

Eikichirō chuckled and shook his head, "Relax, the guy is just interesting… that's all. He's pretty strong, stronger than I am. I've been at it for a century and a half, yet the kid can probably run circles around me."

Rukia had to stop a smug grin from appearing on her face, "So?"

"He's gonna make waves, Kuchiki. Sooner rather than later, I believe. I think I'll keep… Eh, we'll talk some other time; he's probably waiting for you." With that, the guy stood up, waved at Rukia and Kon and jumped away from sight.

Rukia picked up Kon, making sure to keep the Konpaku well away from her chest, and walked back towards Masaki's grave.


Rukia arrived at Masaki's grave to see Ichigo and Isshin standing side to side idly chatting, both smoking cigarettes.

She blinked, that one she didn't expect.

"Oh, my third daughter is here." Both Ichigo and Isshin put out their cigarettes as the latter blew a whistle signaling it was time to go home.

Yuzu and Karin joined them and they started walking back home, it was no longer raining.

Ichigo felt a tug on his sleeve, it was becoming familiar.

"Ichigo?"

"Yes, Rukia?"

"I didn't know you smoked."

Ichigo shook his head, "I don't. My father wanted to see if I'd look 'cool' doing it. You see, my mother… I'll tell you when we get home."

Rukia nodded and they kept walking in silence. Well, the two of them were silent, Karin and Yuzu were chatting happily as their father did one thing or another to get their attention.

Rukia blushed for a moment, and accidentally spoke out loud the thought that made her blush.

"You did look cool."


And that's a wrap.

Do read this author's note; I want to point out a couple of things before anyone with a keen eye does it in a review.

Some dates and events have been changed, that's why I put in that it would be somewhat AU. For starters, the thing with Orihime's brother which I already mentioned previously. But those of you with an amazing memory for little facts will probably notice that I changed the date of Masaki's death. She did die on the 17th, just of a different month, June. I felt it was necessary for the story, and it was either change that date or change the date of Ichigo's birthday.

Between making Ichigo a month older and giving his mother another month of life, which one do you think I chose?

Even more radical was the change of the time he met Tatsuki. He originally met her at age 4, but I made him meet her at age 7. I had to give him time to grow into his purpose before he learned how to beat people up.

Ichigo used Getsuga Tenshō without going Shikai, too. First off, I couldn't really get rid of that attack, it's too awesome. And secondly, Ichigo's gonna be breaking a couple more rules, all for the sake of being awesome (I use that word too much).

I point out things like this because I have quite a few reviewers that are quite observant (you people know who you are).

Don't get me wrong, I love you guys. You really keep me on my toes and make me go the extra mile to not write bad stuff.

Oh, by the way. I don't, in any way, endorse smoking. I don't think people really look cool doing it, either. But that's just my opinion and not Isshin's (Or Rukia's).

This chapter was going to be split into two, but then I realized I had taken a real long time to update, so I decided to keep it as it is.

It was rather hard to write, too. I'm really itching to get to the next arc. Oh, the ideas I have…

Sorry for the delay, my university is really pushing me and it won't ease up until early December. I'll try to make the next update come along faster, though.

Gah, I promised myself I wouldn't write long Author's Notes. So I bid you adieu.

Edit: Someone PM'd me about my Noodles comment. So I'll say it before anyone else asks: It's what I eat the most. I'm an unemployed college student, noodles are cheap and quick to make. That's fairly simple math.

- Flameal out.