Important announcement at the end of chapter.
Chapter 1
The March of Time
Ichigo stared at the monster-like thing clinging to the back of a passing person. A massive smile seemingly forever stretched on its hideous lips. He quirked his lips into a frown as he could only watch as the person with the curse clinging to them fade into the crowd.
They are more hideous than any hollow... he thought with a cringed expression.
Shaking his head, he continued on his path to his destination.
By the time he reached his destination, he had passed some dozen curses on his way.
He looked at the apartment complex with a resigned look. The 7-ish floored building not truly intimidating him nor disappointing him. No, what truly was precarious was the shitty condition it was in.
"Welcome to Tokyo..." he muttered underneath his breath.
Ichigo stared at the spartan room before him. The condition wasn't as bad as the exterior but the lacking nature of the room did make him feel rather exasperated.
"How much is the rent?" he asked the landlord behind him.
The thuggish-looking man scratched the back of his neck as he recalled the information. "Uh... I believe your friend bargained 50,000 yen per month," he recalled. "Once you set down, come down to my office so we can finalize things."
Ichigo nodded. "Alright, have a good day." The man returned the gesture before turning around and going on his way.
The substitute soul reaper kept his gaze on the man's back, his focus on a little thing. "Hey, perhaps you should see someone for your neck pain," he called out. "You might have an evil spirit so you should look for an exorcist!"
"Mind your own business, asshole!" the landlord yelled right back as he continued walking down the hall, disregarding his advice.
Ichigo shook his head as he entered the room.
Closing the door, he began to unpack his things. First and most importantly, he got his laptop out and started it up.
He looked around the room in search of a desk of some kind. Sadly, the unfurnished apartment only had a bed of which was provided ahead of time by Urahara. Thus, he settled with putting it in his largest language.
With his laptop currently starting up, he took out his phone and texted his dad: "Arrived at Tokyo."
Almost immediately, he was given a reply in the form of a smiley emoticon followed up with a simple message: "Stay safe and don't let the assholes bite!"
Finding the crass joke a tad bit funny, Ichigo couldn't help but smile a bit before putting away his phone.
He turned to the now fully loaded laptop and logged in. Then he opened a unique-looking desktop application with a rather goofy icon in comparison to the other neat and tidy applications surrounding it.
The screen buffered a bit before the connection was finalized.
Immediately, he gaped at the horror that appeared on the screen.
It was Kisuke using a cat toy to play with Yoroichi in her Shunryū Kokubyō Senki (Flash God Black Cat Warrior Princess) form inside the underground training room. Large bursts of reiatsu from the now cat-minded Yoroichi shaking Kisuke's camera so much that it gave Ichigo an utter headache.
"Hey, Ichigo~!" Kisuke greeted him merrily whilst dodging an attack from Yoruichi that would've no doubt erased the hand he held the cat toy. "How's Tokyo?"
"You do know she's going to kill you afterward, right?" Ichigo asked with bewilderment.
The utterly insane scientist merely chuckled. "As if she isn't trying to kill this poor toy-! Yikes!" Suddenly, Yoruichi bit on Kisuke's hand, sending blood flying. "Oh... That's going to leave a mark..."
Ichigo stared blankly as Kisuke tried to shake Yoruichi off.
"Bad kitty! Bad kitty!" the now rightfully punished scientist repeated. "Hey, Kuchiki-san! Could you take over the- Ouch! Stop sinking your teeth deeper! Bad kitty!"
A few moments later the display shifted from the struggling Kisuke to Rukia. "So how's Tokyo?" she reiterated Kisuke's first question.
"A lot of those unique hollows are around here," he replied. "They are kinda weird though."
"Oh? How weird?"
Ichigo scratched the back of his head as he thought of an example. "Well, there were many of them clinging to people. It looked really weird."
"Eh? Is that weird?"
"I don't know what hollows you've soon but I don't recall any hollows perched on top of people like scarves."
Rukia blinked in confusion before realization dawned upon her. "Ooooh. That's what you mean by clinging."
"What type of cling- Nevermind," Ichigo shook his head as realization too dawned upon him. "So what are you doing in Kisuke's shop anyways?"
"I just happened to be assigned here for a little bit until they find a team to take over," Rukia replied handily, shrugging to pass it off as nonchalant.
Ichigo raised an eyebrow at the explanation. While it was normal for a single soul reaper to take care of a whole town, it did seem a bit overkill considering Uryu, Chad, and Orihime were there. All of whom were as strong as some of the lieutenants of the Gotei 13.
Reading his confusion and suspicion, Rukia quickly addressed it. "Well, admittedly, I think the true reason I was sent here is to monitor Uryu and keep regular contact with you," she revealed as a matter of fact. "Of course, you didn't hear it from me."
Ichigo quirked his lips into a frown at the revelation. "They still don't trust Uryu yet?"
Rukia shook her head at his question. "Central 46 is still the Central 46, they are not known to be nice."
Quite suddenly, Kisuke popped into view once more. His disheveled hair and charred clothes evidence of the debacle regarding Yoroichi. "How's my favorite English major student doing?"
"Good," Ichigo replied curtly as he scratched his head. "Anyhow, I don't want to repeat myself and I have to unpack. You can ask Rukia for the details."
"Oh! Could you bring back some souvenirs from there?" Rukia asked. "I don't think anyone from soul society has gotten any souvenirs from Tokyo or Kyoto... Hehehe." By the end, a mischievous smile wormed on her face.
"Oh, speaking of that, remember not to get into official contact with the Jujutsu sorcerors," Kisuke warned in a slightly more serious tone. "That means not going into shinigami form even when one of those unique hollows, or 'curses' as they call them, attacks someone in front of you."
"Though knowing you, you would do it anyways. I even doubt Central 46 expects you to follow that directive," Rukia inserted with a smug nod and smirk.
Ichigo returned the smirk. "I bet they already have backup plans," he commented. "Anyhow, I've got to set up my apartment."
"Oh! Speaking of that, how is it? Have my skills in the art of words dazzled you with its outcome?" Kisuke asked with excitement akin to a child waiting to be rewarded.
Ichigo looked away from the screen, to the apartment for a bit before looking at Kisuke. "It's underwhelming," he deadpanned. "Well, have a good day. Say hi to the others for me."
"Don't forget the souvenirs!"
"Yes. Yes. Yes. I'll get them," he conceded with a faux surrender as a soft smile wormed onto his face.
With nothing else to be said, he ended the call.
"Tell me, who do you think is the strongest species?"
"Jujutsu sorcerors, master Geto."
Geto leaned on the handrailing as he stared into the setting sun. His hair flowed from mild winds picking up, creating a dazzling scene for his companion.
"Wrong," he said simply as he looked down to the vast empty temple courtyard below. "Gods surround us, outnumber us, and outpower us."
His companion shifted uneasily at the reveal, uncomfortable to which the conversation was heading. "Gods?"
"Demons such as Tamamo-no-Mae and Sakuna exist, all of whom are written and immortalized in the works of the apes. Us sorcerors are also rightfully revered by them... Tell me, what other things have these apes written in their works?" he said, his eyes gleaming.
"So that means... Gods exist..."
"More specifically, the gods of death."
The woman's face contorted in confusion. "Master Geto... Why are you stating these things?"
Geto's face morphed into an unnatural smile. "Because one has entered Tokyo after all these years."
The secretary's expression still set itself on confusion despite the elaboration. "Shall we adjust our plans?" she asked.
Geto hummed as he looked past the courtyard and to the vast horizon. "Only if what those hollows and the records say holds up. In the meantime," he cast his eyes onto his secretary, "have you finished replicating the bait from the corpse?"
"We only managed to create two different prototypes due to the unknown formulas."
"I suppose that should suffice..."
Ichigo bowed his head slightly before looking back up to the memorial.
The memorial to the casualties of the massive earthquake a year prior that had rocked the world and its resulting natural disaster.
Standing to be two stories high, the memorial was a pillar that emphasized width over height. Its polished surface is etched with names of the deceased. Surrounded by flowers and incense, the air around it had a surprising but fitting bitter smell.
Its presence creating a strange twist in Ichigo's stomach. The names carved into the pillar showing him a mere glimpse at the number of lives lost at the climax of a war that they did not know was being fought.
"Only the dead see the end of war," he commented lightly, a somewhat bitter tone seeping in.
"Plato, I believe?"
Ichigo looked to his right, where a man in circular black shades and stark white hair walked up to him with a smirk.
"George Santayana, actually," he corrected as a neutral frown formed on his face. "Is there something you need?"
The man's smirk merely grew wider at his question. "I was just merely passing when I heard you, I just came to sate my curiosity."
"I see, have a good day then," Ichigo said abruptly as he bid the man farewell and made his way past.
The man did not make a move to stop the substitute shinigami as his smirk remained. "Welcome to Tokyo," he said as they passed each other.
Ichigo said nothing, his face contorting into a deeper frown. Well, there goes my record in not getting into shit.
He then proceeded on his path.
Satoru Gojo: Met the shinigami, he is a bit moody
Masamichi Yaga: Did you get any information from him?
Satoru Gojo: Nah I just greeted him
Masamichi Yaga: Did you get an identification on him?
Satoru Gojo: I just greeted him
Masamichi Yaga: Any easily identifiable features?
Satoru Gojo: Orange hair, brown eyes, and a nice sense of style
Masamichi Yaga: Do you think you can beat him?
Satoru Gojo: Easy
Chapter 1 End
Can't believe won't allow me to input emojis.
Laid down the groundwork for Ichigo's situation, the first villain of the arc, and a somewhat mood of the story. I think I am doing decently well so far, you think so?
IMPORTANT: Anyhow, I have decided that I shall begin recommending other people's fanfictions. These must be the ones you wrote and published. Send the link of the story via 's DM system. The chosen fanfiction will be featured on the next chapter of any of my fanfictions of my choosing (so don't go picking one of my dead stories lmao)
Note: I will be judging and subsequently recommending them based on my preference so I recommend sending fanfics based on my profile bio's fav mangas, animes, or games.
Oh, also I make Jujutsu Kaisen AMVs on a YT channel called "Power! Powah!", I won't guarantee quality but check it out if you have time.
SaveTheWeak, out.