Hey my faithful readers! It has been a long time, a really long time, a really really really long time, since I've updated this story. My only excuse is ...uh...writers block?... Well here it is now, and the only reason it's here is because I got a review the other day, which led me to continuing another story of mine, which led to people reading this story because they liked the other story so much, which led to more reviews for both stories which led to me catching up on the bleach manga, which finally led to the creation of this chapter!
Rukia paced impatiently in front of the Kurosaki household. Ichigo hadn't been spotted all day and she was afraid he had gotten seriously lost. She stopped and sat down on the curb, watching a line of ants walk by. A buzzing in her pocket nocked her out of her trance, it was her soul pager.
"Hello?" She stood up and looked down the empty street. "Oh, really? On my way!"
She started walking briskly down the street, popping Chappy in her much and giving her instructions to stay behind. She continued on faster using shunpo.
Ichigo nodded slowly, shocked at what he had just heard. The man in front of him asked an impossible thing. But Ichigo would do anything to get his true memories back.
"Your memories will return upon completion of the task. Do you understand Ichigo? Remember you must tell no one." Nameda began to step back in the white light as Ichigo gave a small nod of acceptance.
Ichigo found he could move his limbs again and the white light began to recede around him. He stumbled forward and collapsed to his knees.
"Ichigo!" Rukia landed next to him, out of breath from running. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm... I'm fine." He stood up shakily and looked at Rukia, her large concerned eyes and raven black hair.
"Are you lost? We couldn't find you all day!" She said.
They turned and Ichigo followed Rukia home. They got back just in time for Yuzu's famous dinner. Ichigo couldn't concentrate on dinner though. His thoughts were back in the white bubble, with the man, and the impossible task to regain his memories.
Rukia found Ichigo sitting on the edge of his bed staring at the wall. She decided not to bother him with small talk and instead just went straight to her bed in the closet. She was worried about him. What had he been doing all day? Why had he collapsed when she found him?
She opened the closet door a bit and peeked out at him. He hadnt moved an inch since she came in. As she watched, she began to look closer, and realized that there was something on his neck. Worried that it was another memory loss bug, she jumped out of the closet and whacked Ichigo's neck.
"Ow! What'd you do that for?" He jumped up and yelled.
"I...just...I... It was a bug, on your neck." Rukia looked down at the ground and found what she had hit, it did appear to be a beetle of some sort. She held it up to the light and showed it to Ichigo. "This was on your neck, let me make sure it didn't bite you."
Ichigo bent down and showed her the spot on his neck, it was a faint red from the slap, but there was no indication of any bite marks. Relief flooded Rukia, she was glad that they didn't have to go through the whole memory loss thing again.
"Just get some sleep, it was just a regular beetle." She sighed and went back to the closet, tossing the dead beetle in the trash.
Ichigo waited for her to close the door before changing into his pajamas and laying down to sleep. The moon shone through his window and created a peaceful feeling.
Ichigo didn't feel it though. His mind was still buzzing, as it had been all that evening. He couldn't go to sleep. Not without completing the task. He sat up in bed, quietly changed into his shinigami form and left withough making a sound.
The cold air rushed around him as he sped through the town, the man, Nameda, had given him a location along with his task. His shihakushô flapped in the wind and the ground rushed up towards him as he finally reached his destination.
Of course he didn't recognize the clearing he had landed in. All he noticed now were the broken limbs and scratched trunks of the trees that surrounded the clearing. He assumed there was a great battle that had happened recently. Quite correctly too, because this was the space where Ichigo had fought the Kingfisher.
Thank you all for reading all the way to the bottom of the page! I hope you enjoyed this section of my amazing story! If you want more chapters, or more stories, or just some virtual awesomeness, then review! I've even come up with a reason for you to review, if you answer this question correctly, then I will dedicate my next chapter to you and include a scene of your choosing (as long as it is appropriate) in the next chapter! Yay! Here's the question guys, sorry I forgot to put it there when I first posted the chapter ;P "Who is Ichigo's worst enemy, and why?"