The Black Side of the Moon~ Fragile Minds, Resilient Bonds
Ichigo gripped Zangetsu's hand tightly as he pulled him from his doom. The black of the void which encapsulated them both was instantly replaced with a blinding whiteness. All of his senses vanished. He couldn't feel anything.
He no longer felt a hand encircled around his own. He felt odd, like his entire body was vibrating. The whiteness he was surrounded by was now changing slightly, the colors were warping into something palpable.
Ichigo shut his eyes immediately as an insurmountable pain wracked his mind and body. He screamed louder than he had ever screamed before. He was going to die, he was sure of it. The pain was worse than all of the injuries he had received up until this point in his life. It felt like an uncountable number of knives piercing every inch of him all at once. It was a sensory overload, and there was no adrenaline to help stifle the endless hurt.
Suddenly, the pain subsided. His mind was now shattered, shut down from the horror he had just endured.
He felt tiny wet drops of water fall softly onto his face, which prompted him to open his eyes.
He stared up at an endless dark sky, filled with rain clouds. Where was he? Was this Soul Society? The human world? His vision was blurry, and he tried hard to focus his eyes.
At first he could not move his body, but soon enough he regained motion in his arms and legs. Little by little his locomotion restored, and finally he could move his neck. He then realized that he was naked, laying in a field surrounded by trees. Of course it was pouring rain.
He sat up and craned his neck, stretching his limbs. He came to the conclusion that he was in his human body once again, in the human world.
He looked down at his legs. They were completely healed of their previous injuries. That was very odd, given that the damage to his soul should transfer over to his human body.
He tried to stretch out his senses. He could not.
He couldn't feel any reiatsu.
"I'm still powerless, huh" He shrugged sadly to himself.
He stood up, almost falling over. He could barely stand. No, it was like was learning how to stand all over again, like he had been reborn.
"Getting used to your new self are we, Ichigo?" spoke a deep, sad voice overhead.
He knew that voice.
Ichigo looked up.
The figure he could barely see was hovering over him in the sky, watching him closely. He could make him out more clearly now. He wore a long black cloak that flowed in the air behind him as he hung in the sky. He wore military style boots, and a dark garb to go with it.
The man threw down a dark blanket to Ichigo. He caught it and wrapped it around his body which was now shivering from laying in the cold rain for so long.
The man looked like someone he knew, he sounded like someone he knew.
He was mistaken.
"Who are you?" Ichigo asked inquisitively.
"Who am I?" Yhwach responded almost instantly, as If he foresaw what he was going to say.
"Tell me, now." Ichigo demanded, in an almost threatening manner.
"My name is Yhwach," he replied, with a great pride resonating in his voice. "And you should already be acquainted with who I am thanks to Aizen Sousuke."
Ichigo clenched his fists tight and looked up at the floating doppelganger with fury.
"So you're the one who fucked up soul society?" he questioned him. "You murdered Byakuya and the Captain Commander didn't you?"
Yhwach continued to look down at Ichigo, as if Ichigo were his pet.
"Yes, my forces and I killed them," he responded plainly. "Deservingly so, however."
"Deservingly so?" Ichigo spat out, his anger growing even more.
"You know of the history of my people, Kurosaki Ichigo." He spoke, in chiding manner. "Your people."
Ichigo's eyes widened, his mouth hung open ever slightly. He bore a confused expression on his face.
"My people?" he asked in a bewildered voice. "What do you mean by that?"
"You know who I am, Ichigo." Yhwach said, in an almost fatherly tone. "I have been with you throughout all of your journeys, whether you knew it or not."
Ichigo understood what he meant by that. He nodded slowly. He knew that the connection between Yhwach and Zangetsu could be no coincidence.
"Are you Zangetsu?" He immediately spoke up, his voice cracking, sounding almost hopeful.
"Yes and no, my son." Replied the bearded man. "And I can restore your powers to you which you lost to the hands of thugs and murderers."
Ichigo felt a sudden surge of hope deep inside of him, and it quickly left him.
"You are a Quincy." Yhwach declared. "Inside of every Quincy is a piece of my soul. Inside you, a large chunk of my soul resides. He is the one that you know as 'Zangetsu'."
A Quincy? Ichigo couldn't comprehend Yhwach's words. There wasn't any way he could be such a thing.
Yhwach slowly floated down to Ichigo until he was standing on the damp grass, face to face with him. He towered over Ichigo's height. He could tell for sure that he was the same height as Zangetsu. Now that he could see him up so close, he also noticed that he was older than the Zangetsu which he once knew, just with his facial hair grown out. Yhwach walked up to Ichigo slowly, and placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Join me in my crusade against the ones who murdered my people and took everything from me." Yhwach requested. It was nearly a plea.
Ichigo shut his eyes hard. His emotions were conflicting with each other. He remembered his betrayal. He remembered the pain he felt of being backstabbed by the ones he blindly served. He remembered how he wanted death to the ones who took his power from him. He wanted revenge. But he also remembered his friends, and the ones he loved.
He shook his head. Yhwach's grip tightened slightly on his shoulder, his demeanor changed ever slightly. It was barely noticeable
"I can't," he responded. "I can't betray the ones who haven't betrayed me, Yhwach."
"I pulled you from the void, Ichigo." Yhwach rectified. "Your soul was banished by the ones who have tainted Heaven. I restored your soul and your name, and I can even bring your power back, but only if you join me in the path of righteousness."
Yhwach's eyes narrowed sharply.
Ichigo looked down at the ground, once again conflicted in his thoughts.
Yhwach knew what was keeping Ichigo from considering their union. He too once knew the bonds of friendship. That was a time long ago.
"I will spare the young, and naïve Shinigami who you hold so dearly to you, my son." He spoke evenly. "I can promise you that. They know not the abominations that they are serving so foolishly. Even they, can be swayed to our cause if they knew the absolute truth."
Ichigo thought silently to himself. Yhwach had already killed so many Shinigami. Even if it was a necessary evil to kill so many just to reach the end goal of killing the original captains, it was still wrong. He couldn't possibly join him. He couldn't betray his friends. He couldn't betray the one he knew he loved.
"No." Ichigo responded and looked back up to Yhwach after thinking for some time. "I'm sorry."
Yhwach dropped his arm to his side again, and took a small step back. His face showed relatively little emotion, less emotion than he was showing before.
"Hold your response for now, my son." Yhwach rebutted. "It was wrong for me to so quickly put you on the spot. I'm sure that in time, you will see the error of your current way of thinking."
Yhwach foresaw this. He knew that Ichigo would come around eventually, it was just a matter of time before he knew everything.
Ichigo nodded, knowing that he would stand by his decision. He couldn't go against his friends, there was no way.
"I will give you one month to decide, Ichigo." Yhwach said. "If you do not come to a decision in that amount of time, I will decimate the ones who slaughtered my people senselessly, with or without you."
Yhwach drew his hand across the floor, creating a large black shadow.
"I have brought you to Karakura Town, your home." Yhwach spoke swiftly. "For now, I must retreat."
Surprisingly, he bowed his head slightly and stepped into the shadow, dissipating into the floor, leaving the mundane realm entirely. Ichigo watched as the shadow vanished from the ground, the rain still falling overhead.
Ichigo stood alone in the rain for some time, thinking over what had happened. He was so conflicted. He needed answers to his questions immediately. He needed to find out the truth of what is going on. So many things were wrong right now. He had to fix them, somehow.
He decided that he should first return home, and maybe sleep on it. He knew he couldn't achieve anything as a powerless human. He needed the power to crush destiny itself.
He looked east. He heard the usual noises of a bustling city far off into the distance. That must be where Karakura Town was.
He started his long trek back toward his home.
.
o o o
.
He had to walk through a small, damp forest, and finally through the city itself. He was still covered in his blanket. Luckily, there was nobody around to question why he was in the condition as to which he presented himself. It was in the middle of the night, roughly 4:00 AM in the morning. It was also still raining heavily outside, the dark clouds overhead seemingly endless.
Eventually he arrived at his destination. He stood in front of a house with a large sign on the top of it that read 'Kurosaki Clinic'. He noticed that there were a dozen newspapers stacked up in front of the house
He took a deep breath, sighing heavily. He was shivering from being pelted with ice cold rain for hours.
He turned the handle of the door knob. It was locked. Ichigo raised his eyebrow suspiciously. His old man never locked the door, he was too clueless to lock the own door to his house. Ichigo lifted the rug and took out the spare key which was almost never used. He blew the dust off of it, and stuck it into the keyhole, turning it deftly. He heard the lock click open, then turned the knob and opened the door.
Ichigo walked slowly into the house and looked around. It was empty as far as he could tell. It looked like nobody had been there for some time. All of the dishes were clean, everything was neat and tidy. The most suspicious of all, was that nobody greeted him with a kick to the face when he first entered through the door. There was nobody here, and nobody had been here for a while now.
"Strange." Ichigo thought quietly to himself.
He cautiously walked up the stairs and pushed the door open to his bedroom. It was just as he had left it. Nobody had been here either.
He walked over to his closet and opened the door. It was a nostalgic sight indeed. It was where Rukia had slept for the three months that she stayed with him before her kidnapping by the Gotei 13.
That's right. Soul Society was once his enemy before. He would have killed everyone in his path if it meant saving Rukia at the time. He only had one goal then, and that was to protect her with his mightiest ability.
He shook his head.
Times had changed, the plot had thickened. There were so many factions. So many converging lines of loyalties and hidden plans and motives that confused him to no end. He couldn't decide who and what he should side with. He could only choose a few people to side with, but not one single faction. He knew he would never betray Rukia. He could never hurt her. Going against the Gotei 13 would maybe not hurt her physically, but it would hurt her emotionally. It would be the betrayal of the heart. Her brother died to the hands of Yhwach and his army. To join forces with him, to go against Soul Society, that would hurt Rukia more deeply than he could possibly know.
He couldn't do such a thing, not in his life time.
He sighed yet again, and inspected the clothes rack of the closet. He took down a fresh pair of pants, an undershirt, a button up, and a pair of socks.
"A shower sure would feel good right now." He yawned out, stretching while doing so.
A hot shower would be a great place to think things over, at least for now. He had a month. He could take Yhwach's word for it. He knew he wasn't lying to Ichigo, he could see it in his eye.
Ichigo let the black cloak that Yhwach gave him fall to the floor of his bedroom. He casually walked into his bathroom and turned on the shower. Water trickled out slowly, then shot out in as steady stream.
In there, he thought of many things. One person was on his mind above all else though.
Rukia.
He really wanted to see her.