Chapter 2:
Rukia, Renji, Byakuya, Ukitake, Toshiro and Rangiku stepped out of the Senkaimon onto a forest area with a small house a couple of hundred feet away. They immediately detected the Spiritual Pressures of the Visords and Urahara. Slowly, the group began making their way towards the house.
Rukia trailed slowly behind her brother, deep in thought. She had no idea what was going to happen when they reached the house. Hearing that Ichigo was alive had brought her massive relief the day before, after the initial shock of him living faded, she was left with unease bordering upon terror. She had been the one to deliver the blow, and he had seen her do it. How would he react if he saw her now? What would he say? What would he do?
The dead grass crunched beneath their feet as they reached the house. Renji looked at the captains, a question upon his lips. What would they even say? What could they say? However, before he could ask the question, the door to the house opened, drawing the gaze of the Soul Reapers.
The Visords minus Shinji walked of the house and faced the reapers present outside. Rukia immediately noticed that every single Visord's hand was on their Zampakuto, the gleam in their eyes daring, almost begging one of the reapers to start something. Luckily, Ukitake managed to dissolve some of the tension by removing Sōgyo no Kotowari from his sash and laying it in front of the Visords.
"Please allow us to pass, we only wish to speak to Mr. Kurosaki." He begged, bowing his head. The rest of his companions, especially Byakuya looked astonished at the gesture.
Hiyori snorted as she listened to the white-haired captain talk. "Like hell we're going to just let you walk in and talk to the Strawberry. Not after what you did. And especially not with her here." She yelled, gesturing with her free hand at Rukia, who flinched at the accusation.
Byakuya stepped forward, his hand on his sword. Both sides readied themselves for a fight. Suddenly a hoarse voice ran out, stopping all of them. "Please you guys, there is no need to fight over my account."
Rangiku smiled at the voice. "Ichigo! I must say its good to see…" the lieutenant's voice trailed off as she saw Ichigo walk out of the house, Shinji and Urahara holding his arms to guide him as he stepped onto the grass.
Rukia let out a strangled sob as she saw her old friend. His scars were quite easy to see, and she could only imagine what had happened to him. At first, she wondered why he needed help to walk, but then she slowly realized why. Ichigo was blind.
"Well Rangiku, it seems I'm finally able to get you speechless for once. I'm sure your faces look hilarious." He said, a small whisper of bitterness sneaking into his voice. "Now why may I ask, did the Soul Society send three captains and lieutenants to find little old me? Did you want to finish the job?" He stated flatly, causing Toshiro to hastily deny it.
"Nothing like that! We are here to offer you a deal."
Ichigo's milky white eyes narrowed. "Let me guess, someone is threatening the Soul Society, you are all too weak to defeat them, you need a weapon, and I can be easily disposed of afterward."
Ukitake started to deny that until he realized he had no grounds to answer. Ichigo was describing the winter war in a nutshell. A silence rose among them, with Rukia trying as best as she could to simply melt into the floor. Finally, Byakuya spoke.
"We are willing to return your powers, if you agree to help us, and after the war, we will negotiate what happens…"
"Fuck off." Stated Ichigo, his voice never raising. Byakuya stopped as he stared at the boy in surprise. This wasn't how he acted. He would always protect those he cared about. Ichigo's mouth twisted into a smirk slowly. "You're probably asking yourself why I won't help. That it is my nature to protect. And what I say to that is fuck off. You tried to kill me, took my eyesight, took everything from me. I would rather endure a thousand years of torture than slave myself to you people again. Let the Seireitei burn to the ground. It's been a long time coming."
"Ichigo you can't mean that! The Vandenreich wants to destroy everything! You're being selfish!" yelled Renji, his face slowly turning red.
"It doesn't matter!" Ichigo roared. His fists were clenched so hard that his nails began to cut into his skin, blood slowly dripping from them, mixing into the dirt. "There is no one in the Soul Society that I feel like risking my life to save. But even if I wanted to, I can't." Urahara looked at his former protégé, a frown on his face.
"Kurosaki, your powers can be restored. They are merely dormant within you. All we need is enough reiatsu to trigger it."
Ichigo nodded in acknowledgment, ruffling his dog's ears. "That is true Kisuke, however, that is also where the problem arises. In order to restore my powers, you would have to put in more reiatsu than I used against Aizen. The only person who could provide that energy is the soul king. So, unless you want him to give up his powers, I can never get mine back. So, go back and train yourselves, or give up and die. Don't really care which. That's all I have to say to you."
With those words Ichigo began to walk back into his home. When he was halfway up the steps he turned and threw a folder at Ukitake. "Tell the old man that if he wants to kill his own blood, he should so the damned job himself." He then entered the house, leaving everyone except a certain shopkeeper confused.
Toshiro pulled out Hyorinmaru and stabbed it into the air, twisting it to open the route back to their home. Everyone began to follow him, but Rukia begged her captain to let her stay for a while. Ukitake nodded after exchanging a glance with Byakuya, leaving the lieutenant to start walking towards Ichigo's house.
The Visords left, following Urahara back to his shop. This was one conversation that they did not want to involve themselves with and left as quickly as they could.
Ichigo sat in his chair, his dog at his feet. He could sense Rukia slowly walking towards him, and he didn't know what to say. Despite acting like he had everything together, he was currently trembling and hoping she did not see it. This conversation had played out in his head every day since he had recovered. But now the time had come, and he didn't know what to say. So, he simply sat, waiting for her to make the first move.
Rukia was six feet from the man she had betrayed, almost close enough to touch him. Eventually, she got up the courage to speak. "I bet you regret it, don't you?" She asked, her voice, quivering.
"What do you mean?"
"You regret ever saving me. Ever meeting me."
Ichigo ran his hands over his beard as he thought. "Do I regret meeting you? No. Nor do I regret saving you. You gave me the power to save the ones I held dear. You promised me power and I accepted it. I don't regret it." Rukia felt her heart rising in her chest, but soon it was slammed to the ground with Ichigo's next words. "The only thing I regret is trusting Urahara and Soul Society. Most of all I regret trusting you, Renji, everyone I thought would have stood up against the Head Captain's orders. I should have known in the end; you all would blindly follow the Head Captain's rules like gospel."
Hot tears began to slip down Rukia's face as she heard. He had every right to say the things that he did, and she could not blame him. She had tried to kill the man who saved her time and time again.
"Do you hate me? I know I do, and I wouldn't blame you if you did."
Ichigo reached into a cooler and pulled out two beers. Wordlessly, he handed one to Rukia, who gratefully accepted it. The sat drinking for a while before Ichigo spoke again. "I should hate you. But for some reason, I cannot. I tried so many times to hate you but could never bring myself to. All I can say is that I am disappointed." Ichigo took another swig of his drink before he continued.
"You had your orders. TO an extent I cannot fault you for following them, but still, it hurt. Every time you speak, I can feel your blade passing through my body. I'm always cold, and it becomes unbearable in the winter. I blame you for what happened, but I still cannot hate you. I hate Yamamoto and the rest of the Soul Society for doing this to me and forcing you to do it. You clearly didn't want to."
Rukia's head snapped up at the comment. "How did you know they made me…"
"I told the Visords this, so I might as well tell you. I have just enough power to sense reiatsu. It forms shapes in my mind, and sometimes I can even tell a person's mood by the color. It's how Tosen used to fight. I was able to tell a little about what happened by looking at the color of your reiatsu. It's normally white, but now it has shades of dark blue and black, indicating strong guilt and sorrow. I pieced together the rest for myself."
Rukia placed her hand on Ichigo's out of instinct and gripped onto it tightly. "Can I see it?" she asked, her voice trembling. Ichigo nodded and removed his shirt. Rukia's breath caught in her throat as she stared at the huge scar that stretched from shoulder to hip. The scar from the wound she had caused. She reflexively reached out and touched it, her soft fingers gently caressing the scar. Suddenly she wrapped her arms around him, clinging to his torso desperately, lines of saltwater running from her eyes onto his chest. Ichigo's eyes widened for a moment and he hugged her in return.
"There is no need to cry midget. You'll make me feel bad."
"Shut up! I'm not a midget, you're just so damn tall!" The two stopped for a moment realizing that they had almost immediately gone back to their old insults.
After realizing this, they simply stayed silent for a while, holding each other. Rukia broke the silence after some time with a question. "Does your family know you're alive?"
"Yuzu and Karin do," Ichigo answered, running his hands through her silky black hair, reveling in the softness of it. "Goat-Chin doesn't, but the reason for that is for another time. You should probably get back to the Soul Society. Rukia nodded and proceeded to open a Senkaimon.
Just as she was about to leave, Ichigo called out to her. "Don't die midget. I'm not around to save you this time."
"Idiot. Like I ever needed saving to begin with." She replied with a smile. With a flash of light, she disappeared.
Ichigo stood, staring at the spot where Rukia vanished for a few minutes. He was only paused when a hand clamped onto his shoulder. A dark presence materialized behind him, but all Ichigo did was smile.
"Not sure why you hugged her King, explain." Growled Shiro as clamped onto his partner's shoulder. Before Ichigo could answer, a second spirit answered for him.
"You know the reason as well as Ichigo or I Shiro. We watched over her for a long time and we saw the nightmares and things she went through to try to cope with our supposed death. She was damaged almost as much as us then." Shiro growled at his other half but grudgingly admitted he was right.
"As long as we get to punish the bastards actually responsible and King lets me free for a while, I couldn't care less who King wants to spend time with."
Ichigo picked up his walking stick and looked at his spirits. The three of them exchanged a grin and as his spirits vanished back into his inner world, Ichigo twisted the top of his walking stick and pulled, the blade sliding from its hidden sheath. He much preferred this version of the cane-sword to Urahara's, he thought, as he swept his Zampakuto through he air in a couple of experimental swings. He gathered some energy and slashed down in a vertical arc, revealing a door that was not unlike a Senkaimon. He opened the door and putting his blade away, walked through it.
The royal realm was always a sight to behold. Hovering islands which housed the five members of the royal guard were beautiful. However, all five paled in comparison to the Island that contained the Soul king. It was made completely of different colored gems and crystals, that sparkled as the sun's rays hit them, scattering light everywhere.
Ichigo made his way to the King's Island, heading for the throne room. The guards stationed at the door uncrossed their halberds and let the young teen into the throne room.
There sat the Soul King in all his glory. Rich dark red and purple robes clothed the dark-skinned man as he laughed at a joke one of his retainers had told him. Ichigo waited several moments until the king had noticed him before walking up to him and kneeling before him.
"Your majesty."
"Ah, Buraindosēji*, it is good to see you again. It's been what, four years?"
"Yes, your majesty. I received a note from Sensei. He asks that you allow me to deal with your son." Ichigo rose to his feet at the statement. The king thought for a moment and then nodded his head in acceptance.
"If the Samayōtamashī** thinks you can handle it, my boy, then I have no objections."
"Thank you, your majesty. If you don't mind, I will head to my rooms to reclaim my things." The king dismissed him with a nod and went back to talking with his retainers.
Ichigo left the throne room and followed a passage that led to a large blood-red door. Ichigo merely flared his reiatsu and the door opened. He quickly made his way to his own person quarters within the wing and began to throw on his uniform.
He grinned as he slipped the Haori over his shoulders. Shiro and Ossan appeared behind him, Shiro sharing his grin, while Ossan simply smiled. After five years, they were finally heading back to the Soul Society.
*Blind Sage
**Wandering Soul
A/N.
Hey guys, Renjii1313 here! Sorry about the length of this chapter, next one will be longer as we get into the Vandenreich's invasion of the Soul Society! I am creating a new Zampakuto for Ichigo, Shiro, and Ossan are still his spirits obviously, but his powers are a little different. Also, Yhwach won't have 'The Almighty' because in my opinion it's broken af. Also coming either chapter three or four, you will be seeing why Ichigo still has his powers and I'll be introducing the OC character. Well, let me know what you guys think of the Story in the reviews. Opinions and suggestions always help!