Bleach: Tatsuki X Ichigo
Chapter 6

Tatsuki sat in school again, chewing on her pencil's eraser as she tried to contain her anxiety. It had been days since she'd seen Orihime or Ichigo, again, but this time she felt so much more on edge and she couldn't figure out why at all. Day in and day out she felt chills down her spine as she tried to contain herself; the only things distracting her were the constant rumors about delinquency and worse about her friends, which she stomped out all too eagerly as they arose, by any means necessary.

At the peak of her anxiety, she'd sought the counsel of one Kisuke Urahara, known only to her as Hat N' Clogs, but when even he had proven to be absent from his shop, her heart dropped and the anxiety increased. She had neglected her martial arts ever since and at night she sat alone in her room clutching her pillow and scrolling through her phone, waiting for a text from Orihime to tell her to come over and tell her all about the most recent adventure.

Things continued in this way until, one day, she was staring out the window to her class, lost in thought, when a large, pink, flowery kimono fluttering around a man with a large sugegasa atop his head. She frowned slightly, knowing he was from soul society but uncertain as to the reason he could be there. He glanced towards her as she stared at him and he gave her a somewhat warm look, which turned her blood to ice.

She quickly dismissed herself from class, followed by Keigo and Mizuiro, who each could tell something was up.

"Tatsuki," Mizuiro spoke, his voice louder and harsher than intended as he was nearly running to keep up with her quick pace. "What's going on? Did you hear some news? Is something wrong?"

"I don't know, ok?" she said, her voice cracking slightly before she cleared her throat and coughed. "I don't know, but someone from soul society is here and wants to talk to us."

The two young men looked at each other with a look of understanding was shared between them before they continued out the front doors and into the courtyard before going outside the wall around the school where they found the man, his long ponytail flowing in the wind along with his flowing garments.

"Good afternoon, kids," he said, smiling warmly at them as they rounded the corner on him.

"What's wrong? Did something happen to Ichigo?" Keigo asked while Tatsuki stood simply staring at the captain as they spoke.

"No no, he's fine," Head Captain Kyoraku spoke, a gentle smile still adorning his features. "However, I have come to give you these."

With that, he withdrew three tickets from his sleeve and presented them to the teenagers, who each took them and looked over them before he spoke again.

"You see, Ichigo's most recent training may have pushed him to a new level we've never seen before." Kyoraku read the expressions of Keigo, but Tatsuki and Mizuiro were mostly expressionless, still staring at the tickets. "As such, we fear that this new power of his may have made it so that he is unable to live in the world of the living anymore, and will have to have permanent residence in soul society with us."

"Oh you'd like that, wouldn't you?!" Keigo burst out, lunging forward while Mizuiro grabbed his arm in a gesture of restraint. "You guys get to keep calling on Ichigo to solve all of the problems you've got and all you keep doing is asking for more!"

"I do understand your opinion of us, and it isn't completely incorrect, but we couldn't have survived without him, and we never forced his hand," Kyoraku addressed Keigo calmly, a small hint of annoyance disguised in the undertones. His eyes drifted towards Tatsuki who was still staring solemnly at the ticket. "There's no reason to be sad," he proclaimed, causing her eyes to look up at him again. "The chances of this happening are one in five hundred thousand."

Keigo was about to burst in again but he silenced himself as Tatsuki spoke to him finally.

"Have you given tickets to his family?" she asked, her voice dangerously calm.

"I just came from giving his sisters theirs," he replied, a small twinkle of remorse and sadness in his eye as he spoke.

Tatsuki looked at him and nodded, displaying her thanks to him.

"Cheer up," he shouted at the teens. "He's most likely coming home to be with all of you again. Besides, even if he doesn't, you can come to soul society as many times and whenever you like with those tickets! So you'll be able to see him as often as you want!"

As he finished this statement, Tatsuki turned her back to him and began walking back towards the school. His eyes followed her as she walked back, completely ignoring the two young men in front of him. He felt a slight tightness in his chest as he watched her go and he grabbed the bill of his sugegasa and tilted it down as he walked down the street to find a good place to open a senkaimon.

*****BLEACH*****

Keigo and Mizuiro walked together with Tatsuki, Keigo still ranting in his usual manic fashion and constantly nudging the other two for some sort of affirmative responses to what he was saying, but she found herself not even able to get annoyed enough at him to tell him to shut up, instead, she found herself walking home in a trance-like state, feeling as though the world was disconnected from her. Everything felt distant and getting even further and her mind was racing as she held the ticket in her hand.

Within a few minutes, Mizuiro and Keigo were both about to go their separate ways from her and she was still engrossed by the small piece of paper in her hand. The two young men glanced at each other again before each clapped one of her shoulders, and, without saying another word, left her to her own mind. They had learned that trying to help her think about things often lead to painful experiences and they chose, wisely, to avoid those.

As she watched both of them fade into the distance going home, she looked down at the ticket in her hand again, her mind racing as she tried to convince herself everything was going to be alright, but the more she tried to convince herself of that, the faster her heart raced and the more she felt that she was wrong.

As her heart raced, she found herself sprinting, but to where, she wasn't sure.

She watched her apartment fly by and the setting sun on the edge of a bridge.

Her chest tightened again as she ran faster, her lungs screaming at her to stop, but her heart twisting even harder, screaming for her to run further, faster; to run away from it all.

Finally, her legs carried her to the one place she should've known was her heart's true destination...

The river.

The same river where she finally broke down how much she cared for him.

The river she'd painted for him for his birthday.

The river where she'd done everything she could to save him from his own demons.

The river where she'd finally succeeded.

Would this be the same river she lost him in?

She found herself gasping for air, her hands on her knees as she stared at the sparkling, glinting sunlight being reflected off the water. The water drew something out of her she had felt so few times before, but so many times recently, and she collapsed to her knees as she clung her hands together to her chest.

This was why she'd wanted to become a fighter. She didn't want this kind of pain to hurt her. She wanted to be able to take any hit and keep going. She wanted, more than anything in the world, to be immune to pain.

Her vision blurred as she raised her head from its ever lowering posture, and, as the pain in her soul became too much to bear, she let it out in a wail so full of sorrow, but mostly anger and regret, that it shook her to her very core. She screamed out long and hard, staring at the setting sun, clinging her hands to her chest as she did so, holding that one last connection she had with him closer. Her whole body shook and her face turned red as mucus started to come from her nose and tears flowed like waterfalls down her cheeks. The force with which her cries were forced out exhausted her and her body squeezed them from her like toothpaste.

Suddenly, a large hand rested on her shoulder in between wails and she lifted her head to see Isshin Kurosaki standing above her, adorned in his captain's robe.

"Mr. Kurosaki?" she weakly croaked out, her brow furrowed in confusion at his appearance.

"It's not best to speak here," he said, giving her a small, comforting smirk as he spoke. "We wouldn't want people to think you're crazy and talking to yourself."

She remained confused momentarily before she realized he was actually legitimately a soul at the moment and not just playing dress up.

"You're a-" she began before he held his finger to her lips and made a shushing sound.

"Please keep this a secret from the girls," he said, holding his hand up as he bowed and smiled, embarrassed. "They don't know their old man is a former soul reaper."

Tatsuki nodded slowly, her understanding.

"Why don't you head to the clinic and I'll talk to you there, ok?" he offered.

She smiled and wiped her eyes and nose with a handkerchief before he smiled to her and disappeared.

*****BLEACH*****

"Wow..." Tatsuki said, her mind rushing a million miles a second as she tried to process all he'd told her.

"Yeah," he agreed, nodding slightly as he poured a cup of tea for his daughters, who would be home any second with dinner and topped off Tatsuki's.

The two sat in silence for a moment as Tatsuki sipped her tea and thought about what she'd been told.

"He was surprised too," Isshin said, smiling solemnly as he sipped his tea.

"When did you tell him?"

"A day or so ago."

Tatsuki stood up lightening fast, but her hopes were dashed just as fast.

"He's already gone back," his father stated. "He had to. Otherwise, this will never truly be over."

The front door opened and a somber Yuzu and Karin could be seen walking into the house carrying some fast food bags. They saw her there and offered weak smiles but the two girls couldn't hold back and cried into her arms as she let a few tears of her own fall onto their heads while they all held each other. Even Isshin's usually wild and strange antics weren't present as he walked around the table to hold his girls.

The family had their dinner and Tatsuki sat with them, all silent as they felt the thoughts of his safety flowing between them all. Once dinner was done, Yuzu began to clean dishes and Karin rinsed them before Tatsuki dried them and put them away.

Once the chores were done, Yuzu made a statement about going to bed and Karin sat in a chair in the den, her arms folded and her eyes distant as she thought about something, and Tatsuki could see the sadness welling in them again and knelt down beside her chair.

"You ok?" she asked, knowing it wasn't the best question to ask but knowing she didn't have many better options.

"No..." she spoke softly. "I'm so damn angry and sad and I just don't know what to do with it all..."

"Well you don't need to be angry or sad," Tatsuki said, brushing her hair from her face. "Ichigo always wins, so he'll be back to us."

"But he shouldn't have had to fight in the first place!" Tears fell down Karin's face as she yelled and her dark eyes met Tatsuki's. "I was trying so hard with Mr. Urahara..."

"Trying to what?" Tatsuki asked softly, looking deeply into her eyes.

"I was training myself so that I could protect him, Stupid Ichigo..." she said, crossing her arms and looking away as she sat back. "But I wasn't strong enough... and now he's got to risk dying for it again..."

Tears began to fall down her face and her nose started running as she sniffled with every other breath. Tatsuki held her close when, suddenly, Yuzu and Isshin joined again, and, stroking Karin's hair, they both took turns reassuring her.

"You have been so strong for him that he knew you could handle yourself," Isshin assured. "He never fought your fights and he isn't now, sweetie. Ichi's fighting for more than you, Yuzu, or any of us. He's fighting for everything."

"You have always been the strongest person I know," Yuzu said, clinging to her as she spoke. "I always wanted to be as strong and brave and confident as you."

Karin curled up even tighter and cried as the trio tried their best to reassure her for nearly ten minutes before she finally became too exhausted to keep going.

After she'd walked with each young girl to their room to talk to them before bed, she finally returned downstairs to see Isshin sitting at the table holding a photo of Masaki in one hand and resting his chin in the other.

"I hope he comes home soon," he spoke, to no-one in particular, but cast his eyes towards Tatsuki as he continued, "Those two will break if he doesn't."

"We all will..." Her eyes drifted down and she made her way to the door. She opened it and looked back at Isshin but he was back to running his thumb over the photograph of his late wife.