The night was pressing on and many people had already left the otherwise popular sightseeing areas of Tokyo. There were reports of a rather nasty storm coming their way and there wouldn't be time for much more fun. Having the advantage of being able to go anywhere they wanted at any time, Ichigo and Rukia decided to stay a little longer, watching the lights in nearby shops gradually turning off. It was the day before Christmas Eve, and all shops would be closed the next day, leaving everyone with the chance to enjoy the holiday in their own way.
Rukia looked at her foamy drink with utmost curiosity, a strange picture having been designed into it with the white color of the foam and brown from chocolate syrup. Ichigo watched her with a cocked eyebrow, waiting for the moment she'd ask something crazy, like back when she couldn't figure out the juice boxes. Instead, she just grabbed a spoon and stirred it, deciding her art was better anyway. She jumped slightly as a rather loud crack of thunder sounded off in the distance, leaving splatter on her face.
"Go figure, huh?" Ichigo said after the rumble had faded, looking up and out through the window he sat next to. The sky was almost black with stormclouds. People were starting to hurry outside, some covering their heads with newspapers, others with small paper umbrellas, no one having expected such a storm to come that night.
Rukia was still busy wiping the foam from her nose when she looked outside. Small streaks of water were beginning to descend from the heavens, dotting the concrete road. "It's just like back then."
"Huh?" Ichigo looked back at her, still toying with the spoon in his iced tea.
"Grand Fisher." She said, clarifying, "It was raining then too."
"Oh."
"It's hard to believe it's been so long since that happened. To think, Aizen had been planning his betrayal even back then. I can't ever forgive him." She stared at the light brown drink before her, the room darkening and the sound of heavy rain washing out the ambient music of the small cafe. "I used to wonder if Urahara was in league with Aizen, telling him he'd hidden the Hougyoku inside my gigai so he'd know who to go after when Soul Society would come after me. I know now that it's not true...but that man still gives me the chills for some reason."
"He's a bit weird." Ichigo said, taking a sip, then watching the ripples as he set the cup down again, ice jingling against the glass, "But he's nothing to be afraid of. If he were trying to help Aizen then I doubt he would've gone so far as to convince me to stop looking for the Gate."
"I wish he wouldn't have.." Rukia said quietly.
"Eh? Why? They can't ever get out if I don't help them."
"Let's hope it's only you they need then." She sipped at her drink again, thunder rolling through overhead. Behind her, barely audible over the pouring rain, the store manager warned nearby patrons that it might be best to stay inside until the storm was over. Japanese store owners would never, under any circumstances, try to remove customers from their establishment. It would be far too rude. Ichigo agreed it might be a good idea to stick around, at least for a little while.
"I wonder..." He said quietly, only loud enough for Rukia to be able to hear, "If it really is just me? Why would that be?"
"Nothing was going on before I brought you back to Soul Society." Rukia answered, "But you saw how quickly I passed out. That creature must've been drawn out by you for some reason."
"But other than my inner Hollow, what makes me different from every single person on the other side? Countless souls there had arrived by Konso, others by Dangai, many more had been there for centuries already without incident, right?"
"Yes." Rukia nodded, "But I think it's been said before...you're the only one who had any connection to the Hougyoku before it disappeared, and all the other Espada and Arrancar died because of the seperation. You're the only one who lived."
"Do you suppose any other Arrancar might've lived? Maybe the less powerful ones...those that Aizen may not have spent so much power on. There are countless experiments running around Hueco Mundo, probably."
"You're a strange case, Ichigo." Rukia leaned back in her chair, loosely crossing her arms, "I wouldn't spend so much time thinking about it. No other person is going to bother opening those gates, not even if Aizen or Gin asked them to somehow. Whatever reason there is, they know it, and they came after you specifically. So long as you don't..."
"But then what was with what you said before?"
"Huh?"
"You said you wished Urahara hadn't stopped me."
"No I didn't."
"What? Yes you did, just a second ago."
"Why would I wish you would let Aizen free? Honestly."
"Nevermind." Ichigo looked back up through the window, leaning the back of his head against the large pane of glass, "What's important is that we get stronger in case they find a different way. We can't be caught unprepared."
"Agreed." She finished the last bit of her small coffee and stood up, "We should probably go now, Ichigo."
"...Ichigo..?"
"Yeah, I'll pay for this real quick. Stay here." Ichigo stood up and collected the small paper from the table, reaching into his back pocket where Urahara had left him some money for use during their stay in the living world. It wasn't much, but Ichigo wasn't exactly a big spender either, so it worked out. Counting the small bills and coins, he barely noticed someone standing in front of him, almost running into the person but side-stepping right before collision. He continued on, similiarilly not noticing that same person repeating his name again quietly.
"Thank you very much, sir." The manager said, "Feel free to stay until the rain clears."
"Thanks." Ichigo collected his change and started heading back towards the front of the cafe where he could see Rukia waiting. He barely made two steps before someone grabbed him by his shoulder; that same man he'd almost run into. "Ehh...?"
"Ichigo..?"
"Who're.."
"Kurosaki??"
"Uhh.." Ichigo looked the man in the face, seeing desperation and shock written all over it. Matted chesnut brown hair framed that face, and the man's expression changed from surprised recognition to anger. He pushed Ichigo back, his back hitting a thin pillar with a sharp pain to go with it.
"You LEFT us!" The man yelled, his fists clenched. Everyone in the cafe went silent at the roar, watching the two dubiously. "You took off through that doorway and left us all to DIE back there!"
"..What!? Who are you..!?"
"You probably don't even care enough to remember my name, since you didn't care enough to warn us about what would happen in Karakura." The man's eyes were wet with reluctant tears, "Chizuru and Tatsuki were the only ones other than me who got out...and yet here you stand, completely unharmed, not even a day older-looking than you were back then!? What the HELL, Ichigo!?"
"Ichigo!" Rukia called out to him, but knew within that it wasn't her fight. All she could do was hopefully prevent anything from being broken.
"I don't know what you're talking about, old man." Ichigo grumbled, "You must be crazy."
"Crazy!? We ALL watched you go! That man with the striped hat even told us what you were planning to do! You have any idea how crushed Tatsuki was when she found out you never saved Orihime!?"
"Why did...Kisuke..." Rukia whispered to herself, "How are they spiritually aware? They know he's a Shinigami? What about..."
"Ever since that WOMAN over there came, you've done nothing but LIE to us!" The man pointed straight at Rukia, just as she'd hoped he wouldn't, "We've all seen you running around in those strange black robes, carrying that huge sword!"
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Ichigo rubbed the spot on his back where it had collided with the pillar, "The Karakura Incident must've made you nuts!"
Low, quiet whispers trailed through the cafe at the second mention of that town's name.
"Ichigo..." Rukia said flatly, "We should go."
"Yeah, that's it, run away again, leave us all in suspense." The man said, "However...I, Asano Keigo will never forgive you!!" He threw a punch, narrowly missing the pillar, stumbling forward from the inertia. Ichigo had easily dodged.
"Keigo?"
"That's right, your supposed old friend!" Another punch, another evade, this time Keigo fell into some chairs. He turned around, wiping away some water that had flown up at him as the chairs rattled against the table near them, glaring at Ichigo angrilly.
Ichigo just stared, not even surprised, looking just as much annoyed as anyone might if they were randomly attacked by someone. He shrugged and put his hands in his pockets, "Can't say I've ever heard your name." He turned towards the door and opened it, waiting for Rukia to leave before following suit.
"RUKIA KUCHIKI." Keigo yelled, not willing to let them go so easily. Rukia paused, looking back hesitantly, though not showing how awkward she felt about the situation. She'd learned enough about bluffing from her older brother.
She stared Keigo straight in the eyes, wanting to say she was sorry, but frowning instead, "Don't know who you're talking about." She put her arm above her eyes to shield them from the downpour and Ichigo followed her outside, leaving Keigo in a fit of anger in the cafe. He didn't stay there though, rushing outside into the pouring rain to hunt them down.
The rain didn't bother him now, all he wanted was to be vindicated for what had happened fifteen years ago. He ran quickly after the duo and pulled Ichigo back again, this time throwing him to the ground, quickly pinning him there, grabbing him with both hands by the collar of his now wet Tshirt.
"You abandoned us..." Keigo growled through bitter tears, "You couldn't even tell us what was going to happen...to give us time to get away...Mizuiro, Ryo, Mahana, Michiru...they're all dead because you wouldn't tell us anything. Tatsuki even tried to fight it out of you, I saw it in your eyes that she struck a chord of familiarity when she broke the window with your head! She should've pushed you straight out, for all the good it would've done! Look at you, too...you look exactly the same as you did back then, BOTH OF YOU DO. YOU'RE HAVING SUCH A GREAT TIME HERE, MERRY CHRISTMAS...ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE DEAD AND GONE."
"SHUT UP." Ichigo yelled. He tried twisting away, but Keigo put his full weight on Ichigo's chest and kept him right where he was, raising one arm in an intending fist.
"...This is for Mizuiro...my own, only friend..." Blood flew to the dripping wet concrete, flowing away to distant stormdrains. Ichigo's nose bled heavily, but Keigo went on, "And Mahana..." Another direct hit, right between the eyes, "Ryo..." Right in the teeth, his lip splitting, Rukia wanting to intervene but sensing it wasn't her place, "Michiru...!!" People from a few shops were watching curiously, not sure what to do, staying inside the avoid getting involved, most even trying to ignore the fight. "YOU KILLED THEM. THEY'RE ALL DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU."
Ichigo glared up at the man, mouth and nose bleeding badly, one eye squinting slightly, though he didn't retaliate even though knowing he could easily overwhelm him.
"Ichigo.." Rukia said quietly.
"Yeah, that's right," Keigo taunted, "Call out to your little prodigy. You think I don't know you're like him too? That man with the striped hat hadn't yet told us to leave when you and your red haired friend showed up to use the portal, too."
Rukia clenched her teeth, but said nothing, staying right where her feet were planted.
"You wouldn't warn us either. None of you would. All those weird supposed transfer students...we knew what you all really were...don't think everyone is always so oblivious just cuz we couldn't see you from the very beginning." Keigo started to laugh to himself slowly, "To think, I used to dismiss seeing you weird people in those strange clothes as just being actors in some weird new movie, that I just didn't look hard enough for the cameras or directors. But then I saw you wearing the same thing, carrying the same weapons, and I knew there was no movie at all. I trusted you...Tatsuki was the only one strong enough to bother questioning it when Orihime went missing. Tell me, what happened to her, exactly, hmm? You're in such good condition. Where is she?"
Ichigo hesitated, his face throbbing, but finally he relented. He'd been avoiding this for far too long.
"She's dead."
Keigo tensed, his eyes wide in shock.
"She's dead, Keigo. That's why none of us came back."
"Wh...she...what?" His hands loosened on Ichigo's shirt, his whole body coming off that adrenaline rush, now feeling heavy and limp. "..H..How...?"
"I killed her."
"Ichigo, you weren't responsi--"
"NOT NOW, RUKIA." Ichigo barked, avoiding looking at her. She fell silent regardless. Keigo looked on intently, still overwhelmed. "Keigo...I killed her. That's what happened."
"B...but why...what did she ever do...how could you still come back and face us if..."
"It was after." Ichigo looked to the side, avoiding Keigo's bewhildered stare as well, "I couldn't stop it...I couldn't stop any of it...I failed."
Keigo rose from where he sat, standing on shaky feet, taking a few steps away from the downed teen. He couldn't believe it.
"Please...tell me you're just...making that up, that you're just lying again..."
Ichigo slowly twisted to a sitting position, wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, "I didn't know you knew. That ALL of you knew. How can I lie now, knowing for a fact that you were aware?"
"You killed her..."
"I'm sorry..." Ichigo looked down at the ground, seeing his blood slowly trickling away. He tensed, feeling as though he had failed again. He turned, sitting on his knees, hands palm-down on the wet ground. "I'm really, really sorry...I didn't mean for it all to turn out like that..."
"She loved you, Ichigo..." Keigo muttered, taking the opportunity to unrelentingly kick the orange-haired former-friend right in the stomach with that pointy business shoe, "And you snuffed out her life. What...why...how could you do something like that?"
Both Shinigami were silent at the mention of Orihime's feelings, Ichigo trying to recompose himself after having the wind kicked straight out of him. It was obvious that neither of them were even remotely aware of Orihime's feelings before her disappearance or even after.
"If you want to keep beating me up, I'll accept it without retaliation." Ichigo said between pained breaths, "I have no excuses for what happened. Everything is just...so damned hard to explain...I wish I had more time..."
"You can say you killed her with such a straight face, don't you feel even slightly guilty!?" He punched down at the back of Ichigo's head. Rukia watched for only two more strikes before finally lunging forward, putting herself between Keigo and the downed Shinigami.
"STOP IT." She ordered, "This isn't punishment anymore, this is just stupid! Beating him up won't bring Orihime back! What happened back then wasn't his fault no matter HOW often he takes the blame for it!"
The rain fell harder in waves all around them, thunder and lightning coming in slowly as well. All three were soaking wet and bitterly cold, but none was willing to show it.
"I'm so sorry, Keigo..." Ichigo still faced the ground, still kneeling in that position of unbiased humility, blood tricking down the side of his face from where Keigo's punches had lacerated his scalp, red liquid trickling through his hair.
"There were circumstances that were far beyond Ichigo's control." Rukia continued, remaining stubbornly between the two males, "His actions weren't his own. He was being controlled by and even greater evil than you could possibly understand. Orihime's death was a tragic and horrible thing, but it wasn't because Ichigo wanted it that way."
"I can't understand..." Keigo said solemnly, water dripping from the tips of his hair, "You're right...I don't think I can...and I can't forgive anymore, either..." A look his his eyes appeared, the same as when he'd realized Ichigo was actually standing there, but his intents were quickly dispelled as a figure in white grabbed both of his arms from behind and pinned them there. Rukia looked up in surprise to see none other than Ishida, holding his former classmate in physical restraint.
"My apologies for being so late." He said calmly, "Miss Rukia, if you'd please use the memory wipe device Urahara has entrusted to you."
Rukia looked surprised still, and Ichigo remained behind her on the ground with his head low, though he knew what was going on. Rukia reached into the pocket of her coat and withdrew a greyish device, looked once more at Keigo and then away again, pushing a button. Smoke burst forth from it, penetrating every wall and window in the area as quickly as rushing water. When the smoke faded, people looked around, wondering what was going on, and Keigo was there in the rain, on his hands and knees, completely alone. His hands hurt, but he couldn't remember why. It suddenly struck him that he'd forgotten to finish an important document for a meeting after Christmas and started to beat the ground angrilly. He figured he must've been doing just that and had blanked out in the midst of it. He just couldn't explain-away his feeling of intense internal pain, sorrow and anger...he'd never feel that way over something related to work.
Rukia and Ishida helped drag the battered Ichigo to a safe distance, completely out of sight and sound.
"How did you know where we were, much less get here so fast?" Rukia asked, looking at the Quincy as they set Ichigo down to lean back on the bench they sat him down on. "We didn't tell anyone we were leaving, much less where..."
"It doesn't take long for missing people to become noticed in Soul Society, you should know that, Miss Rukia." He answered, his eyes calm, no bitter frown like usual when handling Ichigo. "I contacted Urahara in Kyoto and he told me I'd find you here. I don't think it's safe to stay in such small groups at a time like this. We have two former enemies knocking on our door again, after all. Am I incorrect, Miss Rukia?" His eyes bore down into hers.
"Oh, yes, of course." She answered, "Aizen and Gin."
"Keigo..." Ichigo muttered.
"He doesn't remember anything now, Ichigo. We have to start training soon. It'd be a shame to be unprepared, like you said."
"Secret training, hmm?" Ishida smirked coyly, "Interesting."
"It's good that you found us out here, Uryuu." Rukia said, sounding rather out of character suddenly, given what had just happened, "It's almost felt like it's been too long already...you know?"
"I do."
