A/N: Alright, I'm back. School has started so I don't know how much I'll actually write in the future but I'll try my best.
And guess what guys and gals? We have finally reached canon! The latter half of this chapter is from episode 227 which in turn was based on a manga omake. I hope you like this. :D
Created Life from Death 12
Kurosaki Ichigo
There was a knock on the window. It was late in the evening and sun had barely set. Thirteen-year-old Kurosaki Ichigo sat up on his bed and looked outside.
"Asagi?" He asked when he recognized the figure perched on the windowsill. His best friend was clad in her 'magic-cloak' and her blonde hair was peeking out from underneath her hood. In the faint light of the streetlamps, she seemed paler than usual.
Ichigo opened the window.
"What's going on?" While it wasn't the first time Mirai visited him like this, there was something different about it this time.
"A… A captain found out about my existence." The girl spoke. "Tomo-san just visited me."
Ichigo frowned. If a captain knew about Mirai and Tomo had visited her, why was she still here? Why hadn't she run away already? He voiced the thought. Mirai chuckled.
"Ukitake-taicho is kind and has fondness for children. He offered to keep my existence a secret if I report to him about general activity in Karakura."
"I see… How much are you going to report then?"
"I'm not sure. Tomo-san gave me a denreishinki." She pulled out a flip-phone from underneath her cloak. "It connects only to him and he will call me when he has a chance. Because he is a captain, he is quite busy."
"But in the end you don't know much about him, right?" The orange-haired boy concluded. "Why don't we ask Neko-san then? About captains in general."
"…Sounds good. And… I think we should keep this a secret." Mirai slipped the phone back into the folds of her cloak that seemed to be swallowing her. "I don't want Neko-san and Bara-san to worry. Or otou-san and okaa-san…"
"Sounds good." There were steps in the corridor outside Ichigo's room. "Let's talk more tomorrow at school."
"Y-Yeah…" Mirai nodded and vanished with a swift shunpo. Ichigo closed the window and sighed. The steps stopped by outside his room but continued then after a moment.
"Paranoid Goat-Face…" The boy muttered and laid down to finally get some sleep.
Sleep evaded him though, his thoughts churning and focusing on his best friend. Mirai had been a great help during the years and Ichigo had helped her back whenever he could. Even though she seemed to be grasping most of things faster than he did, she never gloated it and always offered a helping hand. Just during the past week when she'd been on a holiday, she'd managed to call her zanpakuto and even used a shikai against a hollow. It was strange and even Mirai had found it odd even though she hadn't at first in her adrenaline-filled haze even thought about the matter. Neko-san, after observing Mirai release the shikai again in more controlled environment (the cat and Ichigo both had been present when Mirai had demonstrated to Tomo even though the former had been hidden), had provided an answer.
"Even though you figured out the named and command for your zanpakuto, doesn't mean that you can automatically use its powers. You still need to earn that right by working together with the spirit and getting to know each other. As for materialization… originally the asauchi didn't exist. While it was a long time ago and only the oldest of clans have the records of it, in the beginning the Shinigami discovered their zanpakuto through deep meditation and times of great duress. In the reishi filled environment of Soul Society where everything already is made of it, materialization is entirely possible. The only thing that makes your case unusual, is that you managed the materialization in the world of living."
Ichigo had then asked if he could get his own zanpakuto too somehow. According to Neko-san, it was currently impossible. Ichigo might have Shinigami blood in him but his mortal flesh would restrict him from getting his soul sword. Until then he could learn how to use his reiatsu in other ways and train in kendo. Which he did. And had already become quite good during the years.
But considering the newest turn of events, Ichigo wasn't sure if it was enough. If he was strong enough to protect Mirai.
"I protect you and you protect me, and together we protect anything and anyone we deem worthwhile." Mirai had declared years ago to Ichigo. And they had worked along that oath.
Next morning Ichigo got up and went downstairs for breakfast. Even though his father frequently annoyed him, the boy never skipped breakfast. Not only Yuzu became upset if it was her turn to cook it (breakfast and making bento were a group effort between the kids while Yuzu had strong-armed herself into the sole dinner-maker), but Ichigo also be hungry well before lunch time.
While eating, Ichigo mulled over what all he should be doing during that week. Talk with Mirai was the first thing in the agenda. They probably would need to talk with Tatsuki too. Find out more about the Captains from Neko-san. Go to kendo-classes at Kotobuki-dojo. And… Ichigo grimaced. Mirai had told him to show up at the theater next Thursday so they'd go over some dance moves and steps.
In general, Ichigo didn't mind dancing. It added his flexibility and gave workout to some other muscles in different manner than karate or kendo did. And the step sequences they learnt could be used in shunpo and hoho in general. It was the people at the theater that bothered him. The over-enthusiastic actresses who insisted he was cute and wanted to dress him up. (To be fair, Mirai endured the same treatment. But she actually liked dressing up and acting out whatever role they gave her.)
But so, busy week coming up. Especially with Karin having a game during the weekend too.
It was during lunch break when Mirai's denreishinki rang. They had been in the classroom eating their lunch with some other students and had observed that the others couldn't hear the phone.
"Let's go to the roof. It's such a nice weather." Ichigo suggested and they hurried off. The good thing was that they had only one flight of stairs to go as their classroom was in the third floor.
"Hello?" Mirai answered to the phone as soon as the door was closed behind them and they'd noted that no one else was on the roof.
"Am I speaking with Kotobuki Mirai-san?" A mild male voice asked. Ichigo pressed his ear against the phone to hear also the other end of the conversation.
"Y-Yes. This is her." The girl replied nervously.
"Good to hear from you, Kotobuki-san. My name is Ukitake Juushiro. I'm the captain of the Thirteenth Division of Gotei 13."
"Yes. Tomo-san told me about you and this situation."
"Then you know what I'm asking."
"I'll report to you about any anomalies in Karakura-cho and in exchange you won't tell anyone about my existence, thus preventing me from being experimented on, put into Maggots Nest or killed." Mirai replied frankly. Ichigo looked at her face and had a feeling she would be reporting a lot less than what this Ukitake guy was expecting. Because Ichigo himself, and various of their friends were definitely anomalies.
Silence followed Mirai's statement.
"Yes, that sounds about right." There was a hint of resignation in the man's voice. Ichigo frowned. Why did the captain sound like he was disagreeing with Mirai?
There was nothing of substance talked about then. Ukitake informed that he would call Mirai once a month on the first Saturday of the said month to hear the report and otherwise there wouldn't be any contact unless agreed beforehand.
Mirai slipped the phone into the pocket of her school uniform. Her face was perfectly composed.
"Well, this is not the end of the world." She stated. "Let's go back to the class."
Ichigo nodded, still frowning. "We're telling Tatsuki about this, right?"
"On the first opportunity that we have."
The following year passed in relative peace.
Mirai made her reports. She started calling Ukitake 'Shironeri' (unbleached silk) so if anyone happened to overhear them, they wouldn't know that she was in contact with a captain.
Ichigo looked after his sisters. The two of them took the twins to see their first Hollow so they'd recognize them and their screams and reiatsu in the future and thus could get to safety.
But overall nothing exciting happened. Mirai practiced with Sazanami to get a feel of both the sealed and unsealed state of it (Or him? She said the spirit was male but it was still a sword, right?). Ichigo didn't know what the unsealed state's special abilities were and Mirai remained tightlipped about it. When the boy had asked Neko-san and Bara-san, they had said that the girl hadn't revealed anything to them either.
It was frustrating.
Next spring, Ichigo made a new friend. On his own even. While he'd had friends before, most of them he'd met through Mirai or then he simply hadn't been that close to them because of his (and Mirai's) growing reputation.
But Ichigo had a new friend. An extremely loyal friend at that. Sado Yasutora was strong and silent. Contemplative and above average in intelligence. And he got a delinquent's reputation when hanging out with Ichigo and beating up gangsters. And Ichigo really wanted to know how Mirai managed to avoid such reputation. Maybe it was the way she managed to blend in among the other students while Ichigo and Sado stood out due former's hair color and latter's height and heavy tan.
With Sado – 'Chad' – Ichigo was appropriately distracted during the next year and it was clear to him that Mirai was taking that opportunity to hone her skills with their various teachers.
Cheater.
It was April. The cherry trees were blossoming. New school year was starting. Ichigo, Mirai and Sado all attended Karakura High. Tatsuki and her friend Orihime were going to start there too.
Ichigo and Mirai were standing in front of the class rosters. There were four classes of first years starting.
"We both got to class 1-3." Ichigo smirked. "Lucky us."
"And look! Chad-kun and Tatsuki-chan are with us too!" Mirai pointed the two names listed. There were going to be thirteen boys and thirteen girls on their class. It appeared to be same size than class 1-1 which had 12-14 ratio but smaller than 1-2 and 1-4 which respectively had 14-14 and 15-13 students. "I wonder if our class is a bit smaller because it has bunch of delinquents stuffed into it." The girl continued cheerily.
"Oi…" The orange-head protested weakly. "It's not our fault that people are idiots."
"Of course not. And you better not be lumping me with you. I have a great reputation."
"Aside from the fact that people buy 'revenges' from you?" Ichigo deadpanned. Mirai laughed sheepishly.
"Oh, you heard about that then…"
"Of course I did. And it doesn't even matter which school or work they are going into, as long as they give you a good and true reason for the revenge, you will enact it." He glared at his best friend despite knowing it would have no effect on her.
"I was bored!" The girl exclaimed. "And it gives me good pocket money for snacks and manga."
Ichigo sighed. The 'revenge service' had began during the past year and he'd only heard about it from Tatsuki who'd asked Mirai to get a revenge on some girls that had been bullying one Inoue Orihime. Apparently the girls had gotten their hair cut unevenly by what seemed to be 'abnormally strong wind'. Ichigo knew otherwise though. It was severely toned down Tenran with Mirai in her spirit form using scissors.
Well, she humiliated bullies, Ichigo beat them down. Each of their own.
"Let's go to see where the homeroom is."
"Are you sure you don't want to wait for Chad-kun?"
"Nah, he'll turn up soon. There is no need to hurry anywhere today."
But of course the plans don't go that way. They met Sado in the entrance hall after checking out the classroom and then…
"Eh? Who're you?" Ichigo scowled. It was his default face whenever he was facing people who he did not consider friends.
"You! Kurosaki Ichigo! You will pay for what you've done! You and Sado both!"
"You still didn't tell me who you are."
"My… so many thugs here… I would've thought that the police would force gangs like this to disperse…" Mirai mused aloud while unwrapping a eucalyptus candy. "But then… allowing them to fester in a singular school will reduce the influence they'd have in others… And like so also reduce the possibility of drug rings to form between the schools."
"You! Kotobuki Mirai! You will pay too for what you've done!" One other thug yelled.
"Is that so?" She blinked slowly. "I don't think so."
And like that was the signal, Ichigo and Sado kicked two of the thugs through the windows, through the announcement wall in the school yard and past two startled freshmen.
"Sado and Kurosaki!" One of them yelled when Mirai followed them out and the rest of the thugs surrounded them and the freshmen.
The five of them against ten plus something. Didn't seem fair. For the opponents that was.
"Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-What's going on?! I don't believe what's happening!" The same freshman than earlier was screaming. "This had gotta be some kind of sick cosmic joke! A dream! I must be a dream!"
"Shut up…" The other freshman sighed.
"Don't you see?" Mirai asked. "This is a stand-off."
"Kotobukiiiiih!" The boy screamed.
"Do I know you?" The girl frowned, yet she seemed more amused than anything.
"Did you think you could get away from me, Kurosaki, Chad? And Kotobuki bitch." The ring leader of the mass approached.
"Who was he again, Asagi?" Ichigo asked.
"I don't know." The girl shrugged, completely unaffected by the fact that she'd been called bitch.
"Doesn't even have a nickname?"
"No. There are three reasons why I give nicknames. One, I like them. Two, I don't want others to know who I'm talking about. Three, I don't like them and thus I insult them. If they don't have a nickname, then they are not worth remembering. But in this case…" Mirai had ticked up three fingers as she listed her reasons but lowered them as she dug her pocket for a next candy. "Popcorn-afro."
"WHAT?!" The said popcorn-afro roared.
"You pissed him off." Ichigo remarked.
"It was the purpose."
"It's Ooshima Rei'ichi form Tougata Middle!" The loud freshman screamed.
"Oi, Keigo! How come you know so much about these punks?" His friend questioned. "These guys are in our class, too."
"Proper crowd control then. I pity sensei though." Mirai chirped.
"Who're you? Kurosaki's friends?" Ooshima glared at the boy named Keigo. But just when the boy was denying any connection to the orange-haired boy…
"I'm Kojima Mizuiro from Hiiragini Middle School. I'm in 1-3. Nice to meet ya!" His friend introduced himself to Ichigo, Sado and Mirai.
"1-3? I'm in that class, too." Ichigo said.
"We all are." Mirai smiled. "Nice to meet you, Kojima-kun… Say, does a water have a color?"
"Color?" Mizuiro blinked.
"Don't mind her." Ichigo elbowed the girl. "I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. And this big guy is Sado Yasutora. And she is Kotobuki Mirai. Nice to meet you."
By then Keigo's shouts of desperation reached them. Ooshima Rei'ichi was pressing him to the ground with his feet.
"And who's that?"
"He's Asano Keigo." Mizuiro replied. "He's pretty smart although he never studies. He gets along well with others and never lies. He's a way better person than I am."
"You're something else." Ichigo stated.
"Huh?"
"I mean, it's pretty rare for a person to praise their friend so much around strangers." The orange-head replied, turning around and opening the zipper of his school uniform jacket. It was time for action and the uniform would restrict him too much otherwise. "Kojima, are you good at making excuses?"
"So good it's sickening."
"Sounds like me then." Mirai grinned, stretching her hands above her head. "Mind if I join you, Kanzo-iro-kun?"
"Go ahead Asagi. But if they get a peek of your knickers in the progress, don't blame me." Ichigo grinned at the girl who scoffed. The uniform skirt was indeed very short and barely reached mid-thigh. The only good thing that came out of it was that it didn't get in the way for fighting. Otherwise…
"I wear shorts underneath. They don't show right now but I'm considering changing into with something with longer pantlegs." She crossed her arms.
"Oh?"
"Reaching my knees."
"I see. Kojima, think one excuse up in the next five minutes. We'll need a good one to keep us form getting expelled after we save Asano." Ichigo crouched, ready to act, and Mirai and Sado stepped up next to him, ready fight. And they were off.
They saved Asano Keigo and thanks to Kojima Mizuiro, avoided getting expelled or even suspended. The new year was about to start splendidly.
Then about two weeks later, a Shinigami stepped through the wall of Ichigo's room.
And the first thing Ichigo thought was…
"I can't let this stand. But I can't let her know everything either."
And according to Mirai's warning and advise from years ago, he pretended ignorant ghost-seer and kicked the petite Shinigami.
"Who are you and what are you doing in my room?!"
A/N: Next chapter is Rukia's. It will be based on manga rather than anime. Just saying.
I was reading Anything but the Rain for fun... It was good. Actually, I think that is the only part where I like Isshin. And seeing Rangiku half-way responsible was also nice.
Replies to Reviews:
-mk0008:
The canon is here!
-xenocanaan:
I won't! But yeah, he was a great actor. I decided that Tomo actually trusts Aizen more than Ukitake after that chapter. Not that she interracts much with either but...
Ukitake's perspective will come during Soul Society Arc when he actually meets Mirai.
Visored... Lisa will probably figure out that Mirai has met others than just her and Rose but she will keep it to herself and laugh inwardly at the others.
Urahara is coming soon too... Depends a bit how I'll pace this story arc...
You're welcome. Thank you for your comment.
-DragonClanMaster:
Very true. I sort of used the chapter to bring a closure to the matter on her side too. I'm glad to hear she is a likeable character though.
-Queen Mo-Freakin:
Thank you! Great to hear you liked it.
Legendary Zoroark:
Thank you. I hope you liked Mirai and Ukitake's brief interraction here too.
:D
-Girl-luvs-manga:
You'll see. ;)
-Silverlined Phoenix:
That's right! High school! Here we come! (I actually had great time in high school so I'm quite biased with the matter.) 'Shironeri' means 'unbleached silk'. I understand it as white that is not stark white but more natural one. Since Mirai uses more old-fashioned colors at the basis of her nicknames, shironeri is the closest I can get for Ukitake.
Yes, it was. I'm still pissed whenever I think about how his character was treated.
Thank you. I hope you liked this one too.