You all chose death and I delivered. :)
Death is all around. It is cold. It is warm. Too warm like a winter's night spent under the covers that trap body heat and kiss the skin with heated breaths. Too warm that one must shift their blankets only to be met with the cold of the night. Too cold with kisses of chilling touch and bites, teeth scraping on the tender flesh. Death is the blanket of cold and warmth, wrapping and binding a soul and guiding it into the afterlife.
The cloak of cold and warmth tear at the soul's body in different ways, pulling it every which way as if confused where to take it. It is not peaceful, too loud and too quiet. Trapped in never-ending darkness. Peaceful deaths are a blessing compared to violent deaths.
Unbeknownst to most, already shattered souls splinter with no pain and disappear without a trace. Fragments linger, watching the world and only anchored until forgotten by the living. These echoes latch onto their loved ones who mourn and remember.
The moment the body gives up on the soul, no longer strong enough to keep tight on the chains, it lets go and allows the soul freedom. Some souls are fortunate.
Others are not.
Those with shattered souls, cannot reincarnate, move on.
No.
They simply disappear, leaving fragmented echoes.
Death curls and coils around the children of Life. It waits and waits until it finds the chance to pluck the child. There's no love, no tenderness in the action. Not unless it's peaceful, dying in one's sleep is a blessing. The soul slides right out. Violent deaths is similar to yanking on hair, ripping it out of the scalp. Death does not discriminate, it takes who it wants and no one can do anything but complain and question why? why? why? Scream and cry, but death won't listen to childish pleas.
Kurosaki Ichigo is an unfortunate soul.
He lived and loved, protected and cared.
He loved like a candle.
Loved with burning passion.
Loved until it killed.
He lived as one should.
Lived with a smile.
Lived until it hurt.
He protected everything he could.
Protected with open arms
Protected until giving up.
He cared for so long.
Cared with radiant mirth
Cared until breaking down.
Yes, Kurosaki Ichigo was an unfortunate soul, whose life was beautiful in the way only a tragic story could be. Pain born from having loved, left alone when he had protected, pushed away when he had cared, and died when he could have happily lived. He had a heart too full and slowly drained, giving pieces when it was emptied.
Death is cruel.
It doesn't mean to be, but that makes it all that much crueler.
Hitting the water, his soul slips without any awareness. No pain. No suffering. One could believe it to be peaceful. It's only like this because his soul isn't intact. Once the soul slipped out, it dispersed with no one all the wiser.
Kurosaki Yuzu's spiritual awareness and ability was never strong. While she may not be able to see spirits clearly like her siblings, it didn't mean she's blind to the other world. She always had a sense of death, always known when it will happen since it's like a cold chill passing through her own body. There's always a faint outline that covers a person.
No, she's never been able to see ghosts.
But that doesn't mean she doesn't see anything.
Fragmented souls linger in their world. Small pieces of people who never had the chance to pass on. She sees them hanging around. They're beads no bigger than the pad of her thumb. They glow white, hovering around the air and never shifting. She sees and she is a witness.
Some are good.
Doesn't mean all.
She's at her friend's home when the sense of dread weighs in her stomach. At first, it's barely noticeable but she has a feeling of something being wrong. First it wraps around her shoulders like a cloak, then it travels down to the pit of her stomach and gets comfortable. As the time trudges on, it grows heavier.
Finally, it explodes in a fury of cold and ice.
Most of the time, it's subtle as the deaths are strangers.
Those she cares about, on the other hand . . .
She cries out.
Faintly, she can hear her friends asking her questions.
They go ignored as her arms wrap around herself, her body coiling inwards with a choke sob. She hasn't dealt with this feeling since Mom—
That's wrong.
She's felt this many times in the past year, but not this pressing, not this cold. Her brother had gotten hurt, has died and she felt all of that.
But the feeling lasted less than an hour and she would find him later, alive and well.
No. She has no hope this time.
Cold, biting and sharp.
She feels as if she's been stabbed multiple times and it hurts.
Nii-san.
She scrambles to her feet, blindly searching for her phone. She must look crazy to her friends, but she can't explain it. She'll break down with sobs if she tries to explain.
Yuzu calls her brother five times and is sent straight to the operator. This number is not in service.
Her heart shatters.
Karin picks up on the second ring. Yuzu doesn't giver her the chance to speak, barreling forward as she rushes out of her friend's home, "Nii-san! Nii-hic-san! Have—ha-ha—have you spo—spuh-spoken to N-n-Nii-san?" Her voice is frantic, incoherent but her sister must know what she's talking about, right?
Karin is silent, allowing her sister to get it out and to process the question. "Yuzu? Is everything okay?"
A laugh bubbles in her throat. How can she ask such a ridiculous question when something's happened? Where's Nii-san? How can she be okay when she doesn't know? She's in hysterics, crying and laughing because she feels so cold yet so numb. Nii-san is somewhere and he won't answer his phone and she feels worse than when Mom died.
"Yuzu, what's wrong? You're worrying me. What about Ichi-nii?"
"Karin! Where is he?" she yells into the phone, not caring how hysterical she must sound to bystanders. She sobers long enough to speak, to get her sister to listen. "I have a bad feeling. I—" And she cuts off. A pale, white orb bobs in the air before her. Eyes wide, tears resurfacing at the implication of what this small ball of light means. She hangs up on her sister, ignoring the questions from her twin, immediately following the ball that flees from her. No. No, please. This, this has to be a mistake.
A coincidence.
Sirens are the first thing she hears upon getting closer to the river. The small orb flits between people, leading her closer with a frantic air.
Arriving to the scene, she understands immediately. Spotting a tuft of orange, so prominent and eye-catching there was no way she could have missed it. No.
"No!" she cries out, pushing past the tape. "Nii-san!" Her breath comes out in gasps, vision blurring at the sight of her brother. That's her brother! "Nii-san!" Strong arms wrap around her tiny body, pulling her back. Immediately, she struggles and tries to break free. That is her brother! Why are they trying to keep her away? "Nii-san!"
"Miss. Miss, please, you can't get close."
"That's my older brother," she argues, not wanting to stay back. Her body wracks with sobs, her awareness fading as she zeroes in on her brother's body. Zipping the bag closed cemented the fear and reality crashes down on her.
Her name is being called, someone is beside and trying to get her to respond. She doesn't, pushing them away and pressing the heels of her palms against her eyes as everything crashes down on her and her world becoming bleak and dreary. Her brother is gone, she felt it and she was too late. She hadn't seen him in two days, hadn't spoken to him at all. Now, he's gone and she'll be alone.
Everything passes in a blur and she barely registers the questions being asked or if she even answered them. Who's here? Who keeps trying to talk to her? Why won't they save her brother?
Gone.
Dead.
He's dead.
She felt his death.
The glowing orb hasn't left, floating beside her without any haste or frantic actions. It's patient with her. Reminds her of—
Her father—she faintly registers—is kneeling in front of her, asking her to come back. At least, she thinks that's what he's saying. If it is, why ask her? Why not ask Ichigo? He has to come back. Why can't he come back? Why doesn't he care about Ichigo as much as he cares about them? Maybe, maybe if he did, Nii-san—Maybe Nii-san would still be with them.
The thought brings about another round of tears. It surprises her. Hasn't she cried enough?
Apparently not.
She can already hear Nii-san's teasing remarks while pressed against his warm chest.
Too bad that won't ever happen again.
Never again will she feel his arms around her.
Never again will she hear his voice.
Never again will she cook for him, see him, or even scold him.
All that's dead and gone, and she's alone in an empty home.
Her dad's barely around.
She doesn't even know what Karin does or where she goes. She's tired.
She wonders if this is what Nii-san felt every day. She was at home more than the other two but even then, she barely crossed paths with her brother. She'd cook and bake with him every now and then, but most of the time, she spent the time with her friends or studying for tests.
Finally, once alone in her room, she looks forlornly at the glowing orb that awaits her touch. Reaching out to touch the orb, she closes her eyes and allows the warmth wash over her.
She watches fragments of her brother's life, the ones attached to this small ball of light. She watches everything from the beginning of his high school year up to his death. Some pieces are longer than others but she's able to discern that those seem to be more important.
Her brother. Her older, kind brother had been living a double life and she's never noticed. He had died multiple times and still came back to them.
She watches as he stands strong against his opponents despite being scared. Scared of losing control of the monster inside him. She watches as the girl he went to rescue looks on with fear for wearing a mask. Watches as he gets a hole blown through his chest. Watches as he comes back a monster and stabs his friend with his sword. How he comes back to his senses and gets overwhelmed with grief of what he did, only to force it away so that he can win a war. Learning along the way that their father—their useless father—kept so many secrets from them and taught him a dangerous trick to defeat an enemy that was never Ichigo's.
Those wretched Shinigami used him until his soul fractured. Then, they threw him away.
Because of them, her brother is gone without a chance of reincarnation. He's going to be gone forever. She feels heat burning in her chest, growing along with her hate.
"Yuzu," says a warm and loving voice, belonging to only one person. A choked sob is the response he gets. The teen smiles down at her, cupping her cheeks with cold hands (they used to be so warm) and rubbing his thumbs over her wet cheekbones. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Yuzu."
"Nii-san," she cries, wrapping her arms around him. "You shouldn't be the one apologizing. You did what you thought was right! They left you, nii-san." She cries against his chest. "How could they? They used you! You won't be able to enter the reincarnation cycle for a long time or ever again!"
Her brother looks at her with such sad eyes that she feels like this isn't her brother, but he is and that makes it all the worse. "I guess Karin and I aren't the only ones with a special ability. I should have realized."
"I chose not to tell you, nii-san." She doesn't let go despite knowing she needs to. "Dad—he . . . How could he? You didn't deserve to be there. He wasn't—that man wasn't your enemy! You shouldn't have had to have fought him."
"Yuzu, listen to me, okay? If I hadn't, you and Karin would have gotten hurt. I couldn't allow that. I'm sorry, Yuzu. I don't have much time. I love you and Karin so much. Please, don't lose hope. I want you to keep going. Don't forget about me but don't let me memory hold you down. Okay? I have to go."
"It's not true! Please. Tell me you're lying, nii-san. I don't want you to go! Don't leave me alone!"
Ichigo smiles his soft and loving smile, kissing her forehead. "I love you, Yuzu. My precious little sister, goodbye." And he fades away with those words.
Gasping, the feeling of ice water being poured onto her brings her to awareness. The orb of light fades and takes with it the last bits of her brother. Heart wrenching sobs wrack through her body, her fingers gently grazing over the spot where his lips had been.
Her brother is gone.
It hurts.
She wants to disappear but can't.
Nii-san, why?
Can someone tell me what to do?
Happy ending? I don't know her.
So, I don't make happy endings apparently. Whoops...
Will add the alternate ending later.