Welcome back to another chapter in 'Ballad of the Strawberry'. I'm glad to see all the comments.(please feed me more, it really helps with motivation and that stupid writers block)
This is going to be my longest fan-fiction here or anywhere. I'm so happy to have amazing people like you supporting this with almost 50 favorites. It warms my heart and I take note of frequent commentators and you all are amazing.
Special shout-out to my Beta Noivad Neao-Nefarious Izanagi. He is amazing and very helpful in the process of writing and in editing. He deserves some recognition as I wouldn't be here without him. Thank you. Now, onto the feature presentation.
"Rukia, would I be able to take tomorrow off from the whole Shinigami thing?" Ichigo stared out his window, a pensive look as he watched the clouds roll by.
"What! No! Of course not, are you crazy?!" Rukia couldn't understand, why would he say something like that? To hunt Hollows is a 24/7 job. The sound of his voice and his reiatsu betrayed his emotion though. Something had happened.
"Tomorrow is the anniversary. The day my Mom died." That was it. Rukia's mouth went dry, the grim expression he had as he turned made it more awkward. She wanted to tell him to get over it but she knew it probably wasn't going to work. "No, it was the day she was killed."
The look in his eyes spoke volumes. A moment and she was in that field. Her blade hilt deep in the body that was leaning on her as tears dripped down her face. Or was it the rain? She didn't care when the form on her blade spoke.
"Th-than-k y-you Rukia."
Ichigo had looked back outside again and missed the single tear that rolled down her cheek. Turning quickly she left for the school. She didn't want Ichigo to see her like that. Now when he was going through so much himself.
Ichigo and his family steadily walked up the hill to Masaki's gravestone. Karin and Yuzu in the lead While Isshin and Ichigo trailed behind the sisters. Yuzu had a look of determination as she trudged up the hill with effort. Meanwhile, Karin was casually keeping pace without signs of slowing.
"This hill's so hard!" Yuzu huffed as Karin started to pass her.
"I think you mean easy." Karin let a small grin cross her face as she thought back to their picnic. It had ended with all three of the siblings joking and laughing. She smiled brightly as she grabbed Yuzu's hand and started to playfully drag her up the hill. "Come on Yuzu!" Her sister hesitated. Leaning in, Karin whispered so only her Yuzu could hear. "If we beat Ichigo maybe we can talk him into taking us on another picnic."
Karin was rewarded with a bright smile to match her own. They both sprinted up the hill with joyous zeal.
Isshin casually walked alongside Ichigo and lightly patted him on the shoulder as Ichigo tried to keep his mask of calm up. Now was not the time to let his emotions cripple him. He had already gotten his answer from his sisters. He just needed to get the answers he needed from his dad, he just didn't know how to ask. It pained him to bring it up, just in case.
After finally catching up the family continued in silence. Yuzu pointed at a figure in front of a grave. She wore a sundress, small backpack with a floppy hat to top the outfit off.
"Who's that? Is she here visiting a grave too?" When she turned around Ichigo's mood soured. Scowl set as if in stone, he stalked up to the offending Shinigami.
"You guys head to see mom, I'll meet you there." He was stopped by Karin's call.
"What are you going to be doing?" The subtle hint of confusion mixed with worry.
"Just taking care of some business. It'll be over quick." Receiving a nod from Karin they carried on and left Ichigo to talk with Rukia.
"What are you doing here?" He left no room for small talk and Rukia hardened her expression. Rukia mulled the words over in her head before settling on a suitable response.
"I'm here in case a Hollow attack and you need to get out of your body." Logical and practical. Ichigo gazed out to where his family had gone, listening as Isshin started some form of a game. It was warm today, he noted. Very different to that day.
"You could have been more discreet about it." Rukia scoffed internally though maintaining her aloof front. Ichigo leaned against a tree and Rukia decided she might as well be blunt with him. He was, for the most part, blunt when he spoke to others.
"You said your mother was killed." Ichigo shook his head. The wind started to pick up as Ichigo avoided Rukia's gaze.
"That's not what I said." His tone shifted, a little higher, a little more off balance. Rukia persisted.
"Who killed your mother Ichigo?" Ichigo had turned his back to her and was walking through the small grove of trees. The canopy filtering light down in small patches.
"Drop it Rukia, please." Rukia couldn't let this feeling go and she needed answers. She persisted. Running after him she grabbed his shoulder and he spun around narrowly missing his kick by half an inch. He was seething. The pain in his eyes, she needed to know.
"Ichigo. You said you could see ghosts for as long as you could remember." She took a deep breath to calm her growing emotions. "Did a Hollow kill your mother?" Ichigo snapped.
Ichigo screamed at the top of his lungs. Rukia could hear the tremor in his voice. She felt like stopping then but she needed her answer.
"WHY! Why does everything have to be about Hollows with you!? It already hurts Rukia! Why are you trying to connect it to Hollows?" His voice was haggard by this point, his head hung low. Rukia moved to approach but decided against it. She felt ashamed for allowing herself to pursue that line of questioning but she needed to make sure.
"Ichigo, why does this bother you so much?" She wasn't aware, that's what Ichigo had to keep reminding himself. She didn't know any better. Plus, he had to tell someone. Might as well be her.
"It wasn't a Hollow that killed my mom." He took a haggard breath and wiped the stray tears away before they fell, facing Rukia in full. She had to stifle a gasp. His eyes, laden with pain and grief that would shatter a chain of fate in minutes.
"It was me. I killed my mom."
Rukia couldn't understand but she understood so well at the same time. Her mind flashed to a tall Shinigami with spikey, black hair with a huge grin on his face. It would flick to another memory of the same Shinigami with a more sheepish smile. Another memory of a determined look that transitioned into the same Shinigami impaled on Rukia's blade as she wept.
The rest of the afternoon was mostly uneventful, aside from Ichigo returning and immediately having to beat up Isshin, it was calm. Sun shining bright though it appeared clouds were beginning to roll in.
Karin was at the foot of a set of short stairs, comforting Yuzu as she cried softly. A soothing hand at work on Yuzu's back. Ichigo had lit some incense and placed them, along with some flowers, at the foot of the grave.
'Mom, things have been really interesting these last few months. I'm a Shinigami now and I fight Hollows and, it's a lot and they don't even have days off. I mean what kind of job system is that? But I have managed to talk with Yuzu and Karin and how they feel about it. They don't blame me, they said I couldn't have done anything to stop it. I don't know what to think anymore.' After saying his piece internally he made his way over to Yuzu and Karin. Sitting down he wrapped his hands around both of them and hugged them and they clung to him as well. Karin perked up when something caught her eye.
"Who's that?" Ichigo sighed, about to go tell Rukia to move farther away when he's eyes laid on the figure. It was decidedly not Rukia shaped. He felt something familiar about it though. He'd seen it somewhere. At a riverbank.
Quickly Ichigo stood up and pushed his sisters away in the opposite direction. When they started to protest he waved them off. Somehow Isshin was missing, of all times Ichigo needed him to be a responsible adult. Of course, he wouldn't be here but he found Rukia rushing towards him with something in her hand.
"Kon?!" Ichigo could only gasp as the stuffed animal got shoved in his face and he swallowed the small pill that contained the soul.
Now separated from his body he slowly walked up to the figure with his hand on the handle of his blade. He felt good knowing Rukia would take care of his sisters so they wouldn't get hurt. He carefully pulled up the stats of the figure as time slowed to a crawl.
"You? What are you doing here?" Low chuckling came as a response from the figure. The clouds overhead had begun to darken.
"You still don't remember me, child of Kurosaki?" The distorted voice drifting not from the figure. Ichigo didn't even feel the strike coming. Grand Fisher backhanded Ichigo into a tree some distance away. Picking himself up Ichigo blinked the blood out of his left eye to look at the Hollow. It stood fairly tall with lots of brown fur, it better not house exploding minions, and a large tribal face mask. "Now, it's time to finish what I started."
With that, the rain started.