Chapter 1 Lives Ending

Dismal. That's how most would describe the evening. The sky was darkened, lightning was crashing, and the rain was coming down in a deluge. It had been like that for most of the evening. In stark contrast, earlier in the day the sun had been out and it had been abnormally hot. Most would have called it a dreary evening, but not Ichigo Kurosaki. No the day to him had been great. His mother had packed his favorite lunch, at recess they played soccer and he had gotten to hang out with his best friend Tatsuki at Karate! And now, to put the icing on the cake he was walking home with his mother. She was amazing. She was beautiful and kind, she always knew just how to rub your tummy after dinner, and she gave the best hugs. She was the world to Ichigo. He always felt safe with her.

Yes today was a good day for little 9 year old Ichigo. Until.

"What's that girl dong?" Ichigo said before he saw the girl take a step towards the river. "AH. I'll be right back!"

"Ichigo where are you going?!" Masaki called to him "No! Ichigo stop!" she cried chasing after the boy. He couldn't see the monster waiting to attack him, but she could. And she wasn't going to make it in time.

Ichigo felt something hit him hard on the back and he fell forward. He could hear his mother scream, and then?

Nothing.

He was surrounded by nothingness. 'Where am I? What happened to the girl by the river? Where's my Mother?!' he thought. He tired calling out to her but his voice never came. He tried looking at his hands, but saw nothing. Just the continuing unending darkness. Where was he?

Tap

'What was that?'

Tap…tap…tap

'Footsteps? Could that be mom?' Ichigo hoped. As the steps got closer his vision slowly returned to him. He could see a blue sky above him, and as he lifted his arm, he could see his hands blurring into existence. The taping came closer. He felt something smooth and hard beneath him. 'Glass? Why am I lying on glass?'

"…Ichigo"

Someone was calling him. He tried to look around but couldn't see anything. As he began to sit up he realized that he was hanging from the side of a skyscraper.

"Aaahhh!" Ichigo screamed, pressing himself against the building.

"Why are you laying down like that Ichigo?" he heard the deep voice of a man behind him. He craned his neck to see who it was that had spoken. What his eyes saw surprised him. Standing perpendicular to the side of the building was a tall man with a sharp angled chin covered in a thin layer of the beginnings of a beard. His hair was long and brown and flowed in the slight breeze. He wore sunglasses over his grey eyes, and had a long tattered black coat on.

"Who are you mister?" the young Ichigo asked

"You have not yet answered my question" the man said stoically. "Why are you lying down Ichigo?"

"Uhhh… well if I stood up id fall." Ichigo stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Who was this guy? Did he forget about gravity? And how is he…

"Then why have I not fallen?" The old man asked, causing Ichigo to stop and think. In fact as he thought about it, he did feel like he was laying on top of the building instead of pressing against the side of it. And if the old man could stand here then maybe the building was on its side, although Ichigo couldn't think of one good reason as to why that would be. "Stand up Ichigo."

Ichigo did as he was instructed and slowly got to his feet, testing the ground to make sure he wasn't just about to slide down. Satisfied that he would be okay for now the small boy looked up at the mysterious man "So who are you anyway?" Ichigo asked. He wasn't used to talking to strangers but for some reason he felt oddly comfortable with the man. 'Why do I get this strange feeling from this guy? Its almost like I've known him my whole life.'

The old man made to speak before pausing. "No doubt you have many more questions than my identity. For now you may simply call me Old Man. We may have only just truly met, but trust that my only wish in this life is to keep you safe." He lifted his arm to point out to the surrounding landscape of sideways sky scrapers. "As far as where we are, you will learn that in time as well. Simply know that this place is your sanctuary, your safe haven." The old man finished looking at Ichigo with concern in his eyes.

Ichigo was confused. So many questions were raging through his mind. How did he get here? And for that matter where is 'here'? Why is he here with this man and not…

"Where is my mother?!" Ichigo shouted out desperately. His worry only growing as he saw the reaction in the mans eyes

"I am sorry Ichigo. She is dead." At this Ichigo's eyes widened in horror. "You were attacked by a foul creature who was using that girl as bait to draw you in. Your mother threw herself between you and your attacker. In doing so, she gave me the time I needed to bring you here and save you." The man paused in his speech, sadness now threatening to crack his voice. A lone tear falling from his eye. " I am so sorry Ichigo. My power was only enough to save your life." The old man finished

'Dead?... How could she be dead? It's impossible! Isn't it?' Ichigo couldn't think. All of this was too much for a 9 year old to take in to begin with but now? Now his mother was dead? Why her? Why had this happened? He could do nothing. His entire world had been shattered.

Ichigo fell to his knees and began to cry. These were not his usual cries of disappointment when Tatsuki beat him, or sadness of when he broke a toy. No. these were unrestrained and unreasonable tears of sorrow, loss, grief, guilt, and pain.

Ichigo was beginning to hyperventilate when he felt an arm being placed over him. It was the old man, pain evident in his face as well "I know you are hurt and scared. And that you don't know what to do. But now is the time that you will need to be strong."

Ichigo looked up at the man. "How were you able to save me and not her too?" he pleaded

The old man paused a moment before his reply "When the beast entered your world a portal was created. You were pulled into this portal. It is actually lucky that you were, for it got you away from the monster, and I was able to use my power to protect you. If you had remained by the river my power would have done nothing to prevent the monster from killing you. However…" he paused. He looked into Ichigo's eyes, seeing the lingering pain. He glanced up at the sky, noticing the dark clouds beginning to form. He did not have much time. "Listen to me Ichigo. The portal you were pulled into has thrown us into a completely different universe. I have no idea what life is like here or if you will be safe here. You will wake up soon and when you do you will find that a sword is with you. I cannot explain why, but keep this sword with you at all times. It will be your only protection."

Ichigo was stunned. 'Another universe? What?' he looked up to see the man beginning to fade away. "Hey old man, wait!" he yelled.

The man simply turned around "I truly am sorry that these things have happened to you Ichigo. But do not be afraid. You are not alone. I will always be here to guide and protect you. If you ever have a need to speak with me, simply hold your sword close to you, and picture this place in your mind." The old man turned and began walking away "Goodbye for now, and stay strong Ichigo."

And with that Ichigo was suddenly blinded by an intense light before he felt himself falling and eventually losing consciousness.

Boring.

Simply boring.

That's how Gildarts Clive would describe the job he had just finished. What was supposed to be a dark guild using death magic to reanimate spirits to terrorize a town, had simply been common bandits using nothing but smoke and mirrors. He had to give them credit, it was a very elaborate and well prepared illusion, but any mage would have instantly been able to tell that there was something amiss. He had simply beaten up the supposed mages and they fled promising never to pull a trick like that again. Hell he'd even felt bad accepting only half the reward. He didn't feel like he really deserved it for a simple bandit job. His thoughts were interrupted by a massive flash slightly in the distance accompanied by the sound of a small explosion.

"What the hell was that?!" He yelled shielding his eyes from the light. Rushing off in the direction of the impact he came to a clearing that looked as if it had just recently been made. All of the grass was burnt away and some of the smaller trees were broken down. In the center of the clearing was a small crater, a couple meters wide. And in the middle of the crater….

"A kid?!" Gildarts exclaim. 'How the hell did a kid cause this' he took in the surroundings and noticed a hole in the canopy of the forest where it looked like something had crashed through. 'Did he fall from the sky? If that's the case how did he survive? And what's with that sword?' he walked next to the boy and could see that he was clearly breathing and appeared uninjured. He looked like he was close to 9 years old and was rather skinny. Most notably his hair was a brilliant shade of orange. "hmm, probably best to be careful. If he survived that and did all this, he can't be a normal kid" Gildarts whispered to himself, deciding that he would wait for the kid to wake up and observe how he behaved.

He found a spot that would suit his needs up on a high but sturdy branch. He would sit here until the kid made some kind of move. He knew he was being a little ridiculous, after all the kid had to only be like 8 or 9 right? But still, something strange was going on here, and he intended to get a better idea of what it was.

As it turned out, he wasn't left waiting for long, as the boy began to stir and slowly sat up looking at his surroundings.

'He doesn't look like he's hurt.'

Gildarts watched on as the boy then noticed the sword strapped to his back that was as long as the kid was tall. The boy pulled the sword off his back and began to hold it to his chest. He slowly sat back down and, clutching the sword for dear life, began to cry.

'I guess he must be scared or something.' Gildarts mumbled in his thoughts, feeling slightly guilty for having been suspicious, as he quietly climbed down from his perch. He approached the boy and tried to get his attention without scaring him. "Hey kid."

Ichigo jumped up and clutched the sword in his hands. He wasn't sure who this man was

Seeing this Gildarts tried to calm him "hey easy. I'm not gonna hurt ya." Getting no response he tried something else. "My name's Gildarts. Gildarts Clive. Can you tell me your name?"

"… Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki" the boy said. Stuttering slightly.

"It's nice to meet you Ichigo. Do you know what happened here?" Gildarts asked, trying to get a grasp of just how the kid ended up in this place

For a while the boy said nothing, only staring at Gildarts, then suddenly a wave of sadness washed over his face and he let his sword fall to the ground, though he still kept a firm grip on the handle.

"My mother was killed." This news was shocking. Although it did explain why he had been crying. "The monster who attacked her knocked me into a portal, and now I'm here. And I don't even know where here is, or what I'm gonna do!" Ichigo continued, fighting his hardest not to break into tears again. A difficult thing when you're 9 years old

Gildarts walked over to the boy and put his coat over Ichigo's shoulders. "Hey there there. It'll all be okay. Can you tell me where you came from?"

Ichigo wiped his runny nose on his sleeve. "I'm from Karakura town, in Japan."

'Karakura? Japan?' I've never heard of either of those before.' Gildarts thought to himself. 'Is it possible that this portal he mentioned was to another world?!' he would have to ask someone a lot smarter than himself to get the answer to that question. For now he just needed to help Ichigo find somewhere safe.

"Well hey listen. I know you're scared and alone right now but don't worry. I know someplace where you'll feel safe and you'll never have to be alone. Okay?"

Ichigo just looked up at the man. He didn't know what to do. Here this guy was willing to help him find a safe place, but he only just met this guy, and he didn't think he should make a habit out of blindly listening to every middle aged man he ran into.

'Go with him Ichigo.'

What was that? It sounded like the old man, but it came from inside his head.

'Go with him Ichigo. We can trust him. He will take you somewhere where that you can begin to figure out what it is you should do.'

'It was the old man! Maybe this is what he meant by always being with me. Well, if the old man thinks i should trust this guy then I suppose I should go with him'

Hesitantly, Ichigo agreed to go with the man. Who knows maybe he will be okay after all. It wasn't the best of situations to find yourself in, and he was sad and scared out his mind over what had befallen his mother, but maybe. Just maybe everything would be okay.

"So Ichigo how old you anyway?" Gildarts asked cheerfully trying to brighten the kid up

"I'm 9 years old, and I'll be 10 next month on the 15th." Ichigo said before a realization hit him. "It is June here, right?"

"Hahaha, yes it is. Well hopefully we can get there before your birthday." Gildarts said with a smirk. "Tell me, have you ever heard of Fairytail?

A/N alright so there's the first chapter of my first story ever! i chose this cross over cause im a little obsessed with both animes at the moment. Anyway a few things

Firstly, I will be making some OC characters to fill gaps where there isnt any information on who else was there in the events of Pre-canon, as well as a few extra enemies to make sure Ichigo ha something to do during the conflicts without booting out the original people.

And that leads us to the second point. Ichigo will eventually unlock most of his power, though it will be over a far longer time period than in Bleach canon. im doing this just so that the story isn't basically Ichigo just walking through all of the villians like paper.

and Thirdly, I've been watching the anime, not reading the manga. They will talk to each other in a western manner. So mostly first names and no honorifics like -chan or -sama. Sorry but i don't understand when it is appropriate to use the terms or what their meanings are so I'm just gonna forgo them.

Thank you all for reading and please, even though there isn't much of a story yet, submit a review. I would greatly appreciate it. :)