Welcome back to another chapter of Re: Eternal Ballad. Another week has gone by and I can say that I can only hope you all enjoy reading this as I do writing it cause boy howdy has this become one of the only things I work on outside of my actual job. Anyway I'm thinking about keeping this weekly upload schedule instead of the once every other week plan that I had. This just feels better.
To answer a common concern in the comments of the last chapter, yes, I will be introducing a lot of OC's, this is due to the lack of canon characters that exist in this period of the timeline. I would recommend reading and drawing your own conclusions on whether they work after reading this arc at least.
Onto the comments.
aGnamZer0: I feel like I misunderstood your comment and for that I apologize, however the Ichigo in this story is not the Ichigo you know fully, however he will still have the base character traits that he had in the manga. That I can promise you. You can change a character's experiences but you can't change them without reason. He is and always will be a protector.
Dragon King Hecht: They did form a kind of Dynamic Duo bond, didn't they? I just hope it stays that way…Anyways, thanks for the consistent reviews and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
DRADX: I would attempt to calm your worries about OC's with words but I think the next few chapters should do that for me. I hope to see another review with your thoughts after your read.
MrNeedsToRemoveAllFavs: You reviewed Chapter 2, however, I want to respond here. I hope you enjoy the backstory behind Kyoka and Ichigo's connection and how they came to be connected when the time comes for the explanation. Though it might take a while, I would ask for your patience.
These reviews really keep me going, you don't understand how many times a day I check for new reviews and how I love to see your perspective on the story. It helps me know what your expectations are and how you're receiving the work. Please continue to review and I will continue to respond. Chapter 5 is already done and 6 is already planned out so please, enjoy, read and review.
Thank you and now onto the story in a world that I do not own (Disclaimer)
Ichigo Kurosaki
Ichigo lay in shock at the scene that was happening around him. Unohana was rising out of the dust caused by her crashing into a tree and the man that he had previously tripped over was now standing over him. It was surreal to say the least but something about the intent behind the man's actions said that the stranger wasn't protecting Ichigo as the scene would imply.
Hate, that was what Ichigo felt radiate off of the man. A hatred for Unohana. Pain was mixed in as well and as the man took a step forward, Ichigo rose to his own feet and drew Kyoka. If the man meant to harm Unohana then he would do his damnedest to not allow that to come to pass. She had helped him too much for him to turn his back on her.
Pushing past his own pain, Ichigo steadied his blade as the mystery man rushed Unohana and the sound of metal meeting metal resonated throughout the riverbank. Waiting for an opening, Ichigo found himself drawn in by the way that the man fought his mentor. The stranger seemed to flow like water. His weapon, a wakizashi, a navy blue ito wrap flapping with each movement. It was beautiful.
As the man swung down with an overhead strike, Unohana parried, deflecting the attack, and the two separated.
"Who are you?" Ichigo was the first to speak and both sets of eyes turned to him, one with ire and the other with curiosity. Shrugging his shoulders he continued. "What? Figured I'd at least ask the guy's name."
The man seemed confused for a second before regaining his bearings and sealing his zanpakuto, an almost apologetic look in his eyes.
"I am Chikako Tomohiro." He pointed towards Unohana accusingly. "And she killed my wife."
Ichigo looked between the two as he tried to put together exactly what the man had said. He knew that Unohana was a killer, hell, she almost killed him over a dozen times, however he couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that he had to trip over someone that just so happened to have a history with his mentor. She was the Kenpachi but could his luck be any more against him?
While Ichigo was lost in thought, Tomohiro and Unohana stepped towards each other and moved around each other in a counter-clockwise fashion. Each keeping careful eyes on the other, searching for any opening, any sign to strike.
Blood sprayed as the battle began, Ichigo still laying on the ground, ignorant to the happenings around him. With each strike towards each other the ground was increasingly painted deep crimson. Occasionally Tomohiro would get a lucky strike on Unohana, as she momentarily flicked her eyes to Ichigo, but he was clearly the more heavily injured between the two combatants.
Breathing heavy, Tomohiro eyed a mostly unharmed Unohana. Now was the time. Holding his blade out in front of him. Tomohiro started building up his spiritual energy around him, focusing it on the tip of his sword.
"Unohana Yachiru. The Kenpachi and murderer of my wife, Chikako Kaiya. You stand before me this day to face judgement for your actions. I will not, cannot, let you live and continue to ruin the lives of any more innocents. This day, I, Chikako Tomohiro, sentence you to death for your sins. May hell have mercy on your soul."
As his speech drew on, an aura of blue energy shimmered into existence around his body and blade. Ichigo could feel a weight rest on his back that felt cool and smelled of sea salt. Not oppressive but he knew it was massive and growing beyond his own incredible power. Tomohiro's next words made Ichigo's eyes widen as it would be the second time, since finding Unohana, that he had seen a shikai.
"Trap her in your vortex. Nagare!" With a shout filled with conviction and strength an explosion of water rammed Unohana, throwing her into and through another set of trees. Without a moment's hesitation he flashed after her body before appearing behind her and ramming his knee into her back with a sickening crunch as Ichigo flinched in sympathy.
He wanted to help Unohana but their fight was happening too fast for him to keep up with, he would have to wait till the fight slowed down before he could step in. Biding his time, he waited for an opening.
Meanwhile Unohana was blasted with another torrent of water, rolling to a stop at the edge of the river not too far from where Ichigo was standing. Rushing over to her, he tried to help her up but she had had enough and released a truly massive amount of reiatsu as Ichigo was forced to the ground, face half buried in the silt and Tomohiro, who had just arrived back on the scene, was struggling to maintain his upright position.
"You ant." Unohana's voice was deathly calm as electrical blue stared into Tomohiro's midnight blue eyes. As if she was judging his very soul on its worthiness. "You've played my game well but now you have outlived your usefulness. Die like the dog that you are."
As she began to draw her blade, she felt a weight on her hand. Looking down, she was met with the pleading dichromatic eyes of Ichigo.
"Don't do this. Please." It was a question and Ichigo knew that it might not be enough to quell Unohana's anger but he had to try. A sigh of relief was released as he felt her reiatsu contain itself once more and he heard Tomohiro slump in exhaustion behind him.
"Come." He didn't have time to process any kind of intelligible response as his mentor dragged him in a direction he could only call homeward, leaving behind an exhausted Tomohiro. For some reason, Ichigo felt that he would be meeting that man again in the future and that he and Unohana had much to discuss. Cringing in expectation of the beatings he would receive in training after his latest stunt, Ichigo prepared for his upcoming turbulent future.
A heavily bandaged Ichigo sat opposite his teacher as they sipped tea outside of their home, overlooking their pond. Neither had spoken since the incident, the only real interaction was the day's training to make up for lost time, and make up for lost time they did as Unohana ruthlessly assaulted Ichigo with a range of attacks that he had never heard nor seen before. Some kind of spells that she called Kido that he would one day learn once he was able to reobtain his shikai.
Setting his cup down he quickly glanced at his mentor only to find her staring lightly back at him. Shifting his gaze after being caught he cleared his throat.
"I'd like to…" He started.
"Talk about yesterday?" She finished with a raised eyebrow. Ichigo nodded with restrained surprise. Unohana's eyes dropped as a somber mood took hold of the two. Ichigo was the first to speak.
"I don't mind." His mentor watched the orangette from the corner of her eyes to see him conflicted. "You don't have to say anything to validate your actions. They're in the past but…"
He paused as he tried to think of the right words to say before opening his mouth.
"But?" She spoke and as if that was the cue he had been waiting for, Ichigo finished his thought.
"But, I want you to let me deal with Tomohiro." She fully turned her head to openly stare at her student. He knew that he was acting rather bold but he didn't care, he didn't want her killing anyone in front of him. Maybe that was a selfish thought but Ichigo didn't really care and if that meant acting in such a way in front of his sensei, then so be it.
"You know what you're asking then?" He silently nodded. He knew, he just hoped that Tomohiro would listen to reason. "Let me think about it."
Unohana Yachiru
Unohana stood opposite her student as they traded blows but she was distracted. Her mind was not on the fight but rather the conversation they had just shared. She already knew what her answer was going to be, this could be turned into a test of his resolve after all but, she couldn't, something deep inside of her was warning her that allowing him to resolve the Tomohiro situation would lead to something bad happening.
Turning her focus to the fight at hand, she watched a panting Ichigo. Even distracted she could outdo her student and that in and of itself almost shook her own resolve. Why was she training him so hard? Why was she keeping him around? She knew that with time Ichigo would become a challenge for her but she still couldn't figure out what was keeping him from attaining his shikai and what if she never figured it out? All of it was just too much for her mind. She liked the old days where she just had to worry about the next kill.
Withholding her thoughts with a smirk she walked up to the bleeding and broken Ichigo. One thing she was glad for was the fact that her student could regenerate at an insane rate. That was one of his saving graces and he would survive nigh fatal wounds and heal them overnight, just in time for the next training session to start.
"You want your answer?" Unohana had motioned for Ichigo to sit, which he obliged. Sitting down next to him. He was still catching his breath so she decided to give him a moment.
"Yeah, please?" He was slowing his breathing and now looking at her, leaving her to finally choose her course of action. She was about to respond, however, they were interrupted by an explosion of spiritual energy. Before she could stand, Ichigo put his hand in hers as Unohana snapped her head around to look at Ichigo. The determination that she found in his dichromatic eyes, turquoise energy dancing just behind his irises, stayed her hand as she watched him stand and vanish in the fastest shunpo she had seen from him yet.
Holding a hand to her chest she felt her heart slowing down. She couldn't join him, but she could watch from afar and monitor the situation she would.
Ichigo Kurosaki
Ichigo arrived at the source of the reiatsu that had interrupted his conversation with Unohana. Sweeping the small field that he had found himself in, he watched for anything out of the ordinary. Moving from behind a large boulder was Tomohiro. Walking towards Ichigo with a relaxed stance.
"So she sent her dog to do her dirty work, not even worth her time am I?" A scowl contorted Tomohiro's face as he shifted his gaze off of Ichigo and onto the ground at the thought. Ichigo for his part was seething.
"Listen here asshole! I chose to come here in her stead! Now why are you trying to kill my sensei so relentlessly?" A spark appeared in Tomohiro's eyes at Ichigo's words.
"So that's the lie she told you? Sorry to break it to you but she's using you." He stated it so matter of factly that Ichigo almost took his word for it. His brows knit in anger.
"I'll ask one more time, why are you attacking her?" A sigh of exasperation was released from Tomohiro's lips as he scowled back at Ichigo.
"I thought I already made it clear at the river. She killed my wife and I'm not going to let anyone else fall to her consequenceless slaughtering." Ichigo held his tongue as many words and thoughts ran throughout his mind.
"I don't get it." It was at these words that Ichigo felt Kyoka stir.
"What's not to get?" Tomohiro retorted dismissively. Ichigo didn't know how to respond to that. Had he felt any kind of loss similar to this? If only he could get his memories back, it's hard to relate to people when you only have a year's worth of memories after all.
"Why do you think killing her will fix anything?!" Tomohiro huffed indignantly as the wind picked up, causing Ichigo to get goose bumps.
"What would you know about loss? You're just some lonely dog that clung to the first sign of help and now you're blinded by the very trust that led you to defend the murderer of countless thousands." Ichigo was at a loss and his moment of hesitation cost him as blood originating from his lower abdomen painted the dirt at his feet.
Tomohiro was walking away, sheathing his blade as Ichigo felt blood pool in his mouth. He crumpled to his knees as his vision started to give out.
"Tell Unohana that in three days, in three days I will come to pass judgement on her." Those were the last words Tomohiro spoke before vanishing in shunpo, leaving Ichigo bleeding out on the ground. A disturbance in the air next to him let him know that Unohana had arrived. It was good since she would bandage his wounds but the beating he would receive before and after giving her the message would leave him in much a similar state.
When Tomohiro did come however he would be ready. He would not let this happen again. He would get Tomohiro to see reason, if it meant giving his life to do so. With that he allowed himself to pass out from blood loss. He would deal with the rest when he woke up.
Walking through the forest on the first day of three, Ichigo reached out and ran his hand against the rough bark of one of the many trees that populated the forest.
"You want him to understand yet you yourself do not. Why?" Blinking, Ichigo turned to face the brunette that was his zanpakuto. His eyes reflected the same conflict that he knew she could see within his soul.
"I don't know. Something within me wants to help both of them and the only way to do that is to move him off of this path of vengeance." A heart warming smile teased his view as it danced on the edges of Kyoka's lips.
"You would tell him to stop seeking justice for the loss of his wife?" Ichigo let out a heavy breath of frustration as he slammed his fist into a tree before turning his back to it. Sliding down the tree he leaned his head back to rest on the rough bark.
"What else can I do? It's not like I can bring her back." He was lost, truly lost. Why did he always have to take on these burdens? Wait, where had that come from? Ichigo tilted his head in confusion, his previous plight momentarily forgotten in favor of this new revelation. Maybe something from his past. Kyoka broke him from his thoughts.
"Why not do nothing?"
"Who would that help?" Kyoka shrugged.
"It wouldn't bother you as it does now." She said it so matter of factly. Ichigo couldn't help but wonder what her priorities were. Deciding to sleep on what her words meant, he started the long trek back home. Maybe tomorrow would bring him some answers to the many questions that were only growing in number.
Thank you so much for reading and please review. They do keep me going at my worst and feel free to throw in ideas that you would like to see, ones that fit the plan might just be implemented. Have a wonderful day and if anyone is willing to be a Beta Reader, please PM me or you can find my discord information below where you can contact me easier.
Criminal#6967