lost mothers, dried tears


As calm waves came into contact with the sand and swiftly said goodbye to the shore under the sun's bright radiance, one particular island in which this gorgeous natural occurrence happened found itself graced with the arrival of an unconscious, weary traveler.

With his cheek pressed up against the wet, warm sand, Ichigo's eyes opened just a bit, letting in the light of the day. He closed them quickly and felt the gentle waves running his lower body over numerous times. The sight of a strange smiling girl's hand coming up over her chest surrounded by pure blue waters was vague in his mind.

"Mizumi!" he said, getting up on his arms quickly and looking around the beach for her.

But no matter how hard he looked, he knew he would not see her again. At least, not for a very long time…

After pushing himself up on his feet, he looked around the vast beach. Under the vast blue sky, before the great tropical forest ahead, and standing in the sand that's color rivaled the sun's golden glow, he calmed himself and tried putting things into perspective. Zangetsu was still faithfully rested at his side under his waistband. The crystals seemed perfectly in place in the bag Akako had given him in Homura. His Reiatsu was still present and recovering normally.

The only thing missing… was Grimmjow.

"Grimmjow!" he called with his hand up beside his mouth so his voice would echo loudly, ardently looking around the beach for the Arrancar. Surely he was here too. They came back up together, didn't they?

Deciding this was not the time to be wasting time, he took to sprinting down the beach, looking avidly for his Arrancar companion.

Eventually he got to where he could see further into the island's massive forest. The vegetation flourished for miles towards a high hill that seemed to be a central point in the island.

To his surprise, a burst of flames shot up from the western side of the island. Ichigo wasted no time in heading there, as he knew Grimmjow could very well be at the center of whatever was going on. He had a knack for getting involved in farces, after all.

As he hurried through the sand, wind blowing a bit viciously against him, he noticed a light shining briefly in the spot where the flames had come from, then saw it fade.

"What the heck going on…?" he asked himself as he fearlessly headed into the forest.


"Hey, what was that?!" Kon asked tensely as he held on to Pantera's tail while the panther led the way through the tropical forest.

"It sounds dangerous." Nelliel answered in the beast's stead. She'd been walking the forest path instead of riding Pantera. For some reason, she felt the need to be on her own two feet lately.

"I don't know." Pantera finally told Kon, and then started walking away from whatever it was that had just happened.

Nel followed him for a moment before speaking again, "Hey, maybe we should go there." She said.

Pantera looked over his shoulder at her, and Kon's button eyes somehow managed to become filled with horror as he did the same. A brief silence came about between the three as they stood under the trees looking at each other expectantly—no one knowing who would speak next or make the first move. Nel, unwilling to just ignore the sounds of danger she'd heard, started walking again in the direction they came from. Kon made to follow her, but a flame ripped its way through the forest and nearly singed him. Nearly. He'd managed to duck and cover his head at the last second, avoiding total annihilation.

"Hey! Just what the hell is going on?!" he shouted angrily as he sat up and looked around. "Eh?! WHERE DID YOU GUYS GO?!"

Both Nel and Pantera were gone from his sight now. He didn't know if they'd been captured by something, burned alive, or had just hurried off towards the danger, and that not knowing what happened to them frightened him. Trapped alone on this peninsular island that seemed otherwise unpopulated by humans… Not to mention whatever dangers could arise from the beasts that lived here…

"R—RUKIAAAAAA! WHERE ARE YOU!? SAVE ME, PLEEEAAASE!" he cried up to the sky, giving up all hope.


The second Ichigo got into the forest in the vicinity of where the explosions were coming from, he caught sight of something that reminded him of the huge phoenix he'd seen on Sogyoku Hill that one time he had to save Rukia from execution. Though, that entire ordeal was behind him now…

A bird enveloped in flames flew about the sky, and it seemed to be searching avidly for something.

It caught sight of him and wasted no time in charging at him at a velocity of immeasurable caliber. The only thing Ichigo could do was jump for cover in the bushes.

The creature landed on the ground with an echoing 'boom' and looked around again. Ichigo watched it carefully from the shadows, unseen, and again reminded of how much sneaking around he'd been doing lately. The strange avian was searching for something.

When he heard something coming out from the opposite end of the forest, his brown eyes widened. Something shot a wave of cherry blossom blades at the giant bird. They tore through the air and ripped through its wing and the front of its abdomen.

Fire quickly enveloped the wounds, but the bird still fell over onto the ground helplessly.

It was a phoenix for sure.

"Who is that?" he mumbled as he watched a golden-flower-shaped-masked person, clad in old Japanese armor with a long, brown ponytail approach the bird and raised their hand. The cherry blossoms that followed this person's command gave him away as Senbonzakura Kageyoshi, the Zanpakutō spirit that belonged to Kuchiki Byakuya's Zanpakutō.

Well, Ichigo wasn't going to just sit back and watch as a phoenix was killed right before his eyes. It was his time to act!

Quickly, he unsheathed Zangetsu and jumped out of the bushes, startling both battle participants.

"Don't do it!" he ordered.

"Do not interfere!" The spirit replied just as domineeringly.

Raising Zangetsu in the air, Ichigo coated it with the Getsuga Tensho aura and swung it at Senbonzakura angrily. "What has this phoenix done to deserve death?!" he asked as he kept firing crescent waves.

"I told you not to interfere." Senbonzakura said as he dodged each one and then finally countered with a wave of cherry blossom blades.

The phoenix fired flames from its wings, stopping Senbonzakura's attack and allowing Ichigo a minor second to hurry over to it.

"What's he trying to kill you for?!"

The majestic but tattered creature pointed its sharp beak over to an old tree that stood out a little from the rest of the forest. Something was in the branches, but cleverly hidden away from plain sight. Had he not been shown where to look, Ichigo never would have seen it.

Senbonzakura held his sword out, instinctively catching the orange-head's attention. "N—no!" Ichigo shouted.

The spirit released his sword and it made its way into the ground, creating pink ripples in its wake.

Turning, Ichigo looked up to the phoenix, who held tears in its proud eyes. "STOP! DON'T KILL IT!"

As the blades rose from the ground, Ichigo gripped Zangetsu and prepared to defend. However, he felt something pinch the back of his neck, knocking him out slowly. As the world turned black, he saw it spinning as if he'd been thrown. The last thing he saw was the phoenix closing its eyes and the pink petals engulfing it.

"No…" he thought, his hand outstretched to it.

And then, everything was dark…


"Hey, c'mon you guys! This isn't funny anymore!" Kon said as he ran through the forest, climbing the path that led closer to the center of the island. "Where'd you disappear to?!"

Compared to being trapped and all alone in this horrid tropical forest, life back at the clinic didn't seem so terrible anymore. And somewhere deep in his cotton-stuffed chest, Kon was shocked to realize that he'd prefer the incessant, overbearing loving words and embraces of Kurosaki Yuzu.

"Someone save meeeee! Rukia! Nel! Ichigo!" he hollered, then began sniffling, "Huuuuunh! Yuzuuuuu!" he cried as he continued running and looking in every which direction for any sign of danger.


Elsewhere, on a different island in the archipelago.

"More arrivals, you say?" a young woman asked a bit excitedly as she stood on the beach outside her nimble abode.

"That's right. There appear to be at least four of them, scattered about the islands. I tried eliminating one of them when he stood against me, but he slipped out from under my nose by way of that nuisance of a phoenix. He seems powerful, though." Senbonzakura admitted as he watched the ocean waves ebb and flow calmly, standing at a distance from his… associate.

"Well, you do as you will. I can't stop you. Besides, we're in this together." the girl replied as she felt her brunette hair blowing in the wind. "I am curious, though…"

The taller of the two turned, "About?"

"That phoenix. Did you manage to stop it from nesting here?" she asked. A silence fell between them for a bit, allowing the sounds of the wilds to overtake the mood. Waves pushed up against the beach, bathing the sand effortlessly, birds chirped about in the trees, and the wind danced gently among the expansive trees.

Finally, Senbonzakura replied, "I did. It is sealed away now, never to threaten the islands with its flames again."

"That's good. I hate to treat such a majestic creature in such a horrid way, but we have a duty to fulfill and letting the temple's island burn to ashes is not a part of that duty. And… Also… If one of those newcomers saw it, I wonder if we should get rid of them…"

"That graceless boy will kill himself. His future is not to be decided by my blade. You may give it a chance if you wish, but his fate seems set already. That is what the falling cherry blossoms have said unto me."

"Well," the girl began, "I don't think he'll be leaving this island, anyway. If his fate, as you say, is to kill himself, then that's precisely what he's done in coming here. After all, without the crystal, who would ever want to leave this heaven on earth?"

Senbonzakura turned and started on his way down the beach. "The end of the world is coming for you, black sword wielder." He said, letting his words carry on in an ephemeral dance with the wind.


"Ah… my freakin' head…" Ichigo complained as he pushed himself off the grassy ground in the bushes. Reaching up, he rubbed the side his head consolingly. He felt like he'd slammed into something. It was probably one of the trees in the area. There were so many of them…

Instinctively, he grabbed up Zangetsu, who had been knocked from his hand somehow, and placed the sword in its rightful place under his waistband.

After getting up on his feet, he looked around and got his bearings. A dirt path was just ahead, so that is where he went. The moment he got to it, he noticed a large portion of the path was scorched. "Did that phoenix… actually die?" he wondered out loud.

In all the legends he'd ever heard, phoenixes were not supposed to die. The only way to actually kill one was to seal it in parts…

Ichigo looked around for it for a moment before looking back at the black-scarred ground. The mark seemed to be pointing in a direction, he noticed when he looked closely. Following that direction, he found himself under a large tree that had many vines and flowers hanging from its massive branches. Well, he was certainly interested in climbing it.

Taking hold of one, he jumped off the ground and climbed. The journey up was a tiresome one, and he began wondering what life would be like without Reiatsu. Living as a normal civilian…

*hissss* *hisssss*

"O—oh no! Someone please help me! Mother! Mother where are you?!" a very young and terrified voice called from above.

Ichigo looked up and froze.

Was there someone in that bird's nest?

The sound of hissing continued, and suddenly something bright fell from the nest. Ichigo quickly jumped off the branch and caught it in his arms, landing on the ground a bit ungracefully given all the wounds he'd sustained lately.

After opening his arms, he was shocked to see a baby bird that was lit with yellow and almost unnoticeable light green flames in certain areas of its body, particularly its wings. It had the cutest eyes that, surprisingly, were more human-like than bird-like.

Since he was looking so intently at it, he noticed that it had been crying.

"It's okay now. I'll take you someplace safe."

And with that, Ichigo hurried on his way before the snake in the tree could slither its way down to catch him.

Almost too pitiful for words, Ichigo wondered what he would do with this bird when he placed it on the ground and it fell forward. It was so young it couldn't even walk!

"Please help me find my mother." It said, tears in its eyes that threatened to run over at a moment's notice.

"Your mother…?" the orange-head echoed. "I… I think she's… Hey, what's your name?"

"I don't have one." The bird replied as it started taking its first steps and flapped its wings to try flying.

"You're just a baby… Well… I can't just leave you alone…" Ichigo folded his arms and contemplated what he should do. Adding another to the journey wouldn't hurt, would it? "I'm going to give you a name." he spoke again after some time.

"…"

"I think I'll call you… Chile." He said with a smile.

"Chile?"

"Yeah. Since I don't know if you're a male or female, the name can go either-"

"I'm a boy!" Chile shouted, then fell forward on his face.

"Well, I still like the name for you."

"…Where's my mother?"

"I'm really sorry to say this… I am… but she's… not around anymore… It's hard to believe, given that she was a phoenix…"

Chile's eyes immediately watered and he closed them, letting his tears spill over, running down his fire-feathered face. He didn't even try to pick himself up off the ground, either. Instead, he just laid there, crying his tiny heart out.

Ichigo stood over him, not knowing what to do. Chile was a baby. A baby who had just lost his mother. A baby—the point in a life when a mother is needed the absolute most. He was undeniably reminded of himself and his little sisters. The day he saw his mother die, the realization that he'd never see her beautiful smile again, and the pain of having to go on without her there to make everything okay… His soul resonated with this creature's, as strongly as the sun was bright. And that's why he sat down and took the phoenix into his arms, petting it consolingly. "It'll be okay. You're not alone. I'm taking you with me." He said warmly.

Chile buried his face in Ichigo's stomach, letting out all his fears, pain, and grief. "Mother…" he sobbed.

"I lost my mother as a child, too. We can relate to each other that way. You and I… we'll stick together, alright? From now on. We'll live together and be like brothers."

"M—mhmm!"

Ichigo sighed in relief, glad that he managed to sway this child from the pain of losing a parent, even if only a little.

After a while, Chile stopped crying little by little and fell asleep in the warm embrace of his new friend. Ichigo wondered just why it was that his clothes hadn't been burned from the tiny flames, but dismissed it with a smile, feeling nothing but glad that he'd saved a life today.

"I—Ichigo?!"

Said man whipped around and his jaw dropped when he saw Nel standing at the bottom of the hill that led to the beach. With the sparse remains of the green forest leading to the light golden sand, and the sparkling blue waters on the horizon behind her, she stood radiant under the sun's light—a symbol of the role she'd played in his life so far.

"Nel…" he said, feeling his heartbeat increasing at the sight of his friend.