Chapter 8: Strange Dreams
Blood dripped onto the ground causing the red liquid to stain the dirt. In front of Ichigo he could see a man with black hair wearing a long black jacket next to him another stood wearing black sunglasses. The two looked one and the same, but something was off about the older one. An evil presence was about him, making the hair on the back of Ichigo's neck stand on end. He suddenly felt an odd presence behind him. Turning his head Ichigo saw that crazy kid standing with his back to him.
"Yo, King." the other greeted him.
"Who are those other two men?" Ichigo asked. "Usually it's just you here."
A frown marred the other's face causing the black/gold eyes to look oddly confused. "There's only one other here." he told Ichigo. "You saw the old one?"
Ichigo looked back to where he'd seen the two men but saw nothing now. "There were two. One with sunglasses and the other looked, evil."
His white haired doppelganger stood next to him. "Well, they're gone now." he muttered. "It's good you saw the one." a frown was still present on his face though. "As for the other...I don't know."
Ichigo looked at the other boy. "So, you're not trying to hurt me this time." he said this as an observation. "Why are you always chasing me?"
"Tch." the kid looked away from him towards another sideways building. "I'm not chasin' you." he told him.
"Liar." Ichigo said in a challenging tone causing the other to stared at him with wide eyes. "I think I may know, but I'm not sure." Ichigo heard another dripping sound in the distance. The ground began to turn red once again. Ichigo looked at the other. "You've at least have be able to see that."
The white haired boy looked down at the ground below the buildings and saw the ground turning red. His frown deepened. "I don't like that." he mumbled. "You've got to get stronger King. Something big is coming, but I-"
"You don't know what it is." Ichigo finished for him. "I've been having odd dreams lately. This place included." The kid blinked at him before a grin appeared on his face, an echoing laugh came from him. "It's not funny!" he yelled at the white haired boy.
"Sure it is." the other said with a wide smile.
"Well, why don't you dream about black haired girls with pointy swords then, along with a crazy white haired kid chasing you for no reason!" he yelled at the other, who began snickering. "Oh! And toss into that mix, monsters with masks that are trying to devour you and everyone you know!" Ichigo threw up his hands in frustration before he ran them through his unruly orange hair. "My life is so confusing and weird!"
"Try being me." the other muttered quietly before he turned towards Ichigo and yelled. "I'm bored in here! Give me something ta fight or else I'm goin' ta go ballistic!"
"Argh!" Ichigo yelled in frustration. "Why must I fight!?"
"Because," the other grinned. "You're a protector King. It's just who you are."
Ichigo suddenly found the odd world begin to fade away as he woke up in his bedroom. The bottom boards of the top bunk stared back at him. Pictures of him and Verena with goatface were plastered on the boards. In one it was just his parents smiling back at him. The four pictures had been taken on his and Verena's ninth birthday, just a few days before goatface went and got himself killed.
A protector. That's what he was or could become. It's what his name meant. Sitting up, Ichigo opened the window and looked out at his neighborhood. No spirits on this early Saturday morning, but he could definitely sense something in the air, but was unsure what it was.
In Urahara's shoten a blond man twirled his newsboy cap by the forefinger of his left hand as he waited in a spare room for his old friend to return when he suddenly heard a noise that sounded oddly like children laughing. Placing his hat on his head he walked out of the room only to find two children with orange hair turn towards him. "Ah, Shinji, good you're here." Urahara's voice caught Shinji Hirako's attention.
Shinji looked from the children to Urahara and was about to speak when the boy spoke up. "Who's piano mouth?" the kid asked causing Shinji to look at him with annoyance written across his face.
"Shinji is an old friend." Urahara stated as he pushed his strip bucket hat up slightly.
"So he's a pervert like you Getabushi." the boy said with a grin, obviously teasing the other man.
Shinji snorted. Getabushi. It so fit Urahara. He suddenly froze as he realized what the kid had said. "Hey," he said with a whine. "I'm not a pervert." he pouted at this.
The young girl giggled. "Ichi, be nice." she told him before turning her attention back to Urahara. "Are we doing more running today Mr. Getabushi?"
Urahara sighed in defeat. It was obvious that he wasn't going to ever get these two to call him anything other than that cursed name. "Not today." he told them. "I was hoping Hirako would join us. Mostly for your benefit Ichigo."
"Me?" The boy, Ichigo, asked with surprise in his voice. "Why? What'd I do?"
"Nothing!" Urahara exclaimed. "It's the reiatsu that I sensed last week when you tackled me. It wasn't just yours that was there." Ichigo suddenly looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. Kisuke smiled as he saw how Ichigo was squirming. So the boy knew something. He'd had a feeling. "You want to tell me something?" he asked Ichigo as he bent forward so that he was looking at Ichigo at the boy's height.
Ichigo avoided Urahara's gaze. "You sensed him too, didn't ya?" he asked.
"Who is he?" The shopkeeper prodded.
Ichigo shrugged. "I've got an idea, but I haven't asked him if it's right yet." Ichigo said. "He calls me King. He looks just like me, only with white hair and gold eyes. He also wears a white kosode and hakama with a black obi. He's crazy, but kind of...cool."
Aw, King...didn't think ya thought I was cool. the echoing voice of the spirit spoke. His voice sounding like he was teasing Ichigo, but Ichigo knew that wasn't the case.
Frowning Ichigo looked towards Urahara. "He's not a bad guy." he told him. "He's just a kid, like me."
"Sounds like either a zanpakuto spirit," Shinji began, "or a hollow." he said this with a dark tone to his voice.
Urahara stood up before rubbing his stubble on his chin. "Or perhaps both?" he inquired.
Shit. Ichigo heard the kid in his head curse. He's annoyingly good.
Ichigo chuckled causing both to look at him. Shrugging his shoulders he then felt Verena tap his shoulder causing him to look at her. "Is he the reason for your bad dreams?" she inquired.
"No." he said with a shake of his head. "I think those dreams are a remnant of something."
Verena cocked her head. "A remnant from what?" she inquired.
A past life? he heard the white haired kid question. Even he didn't know where those weird ass dreams were coming from.
Ichigo shrugged. "A past life?" he asked with uncertainty.
"What kind of dreams?" Urahara inquired out of curiosity as he opened the trap door to the training room/basement.
"Of death. War mostly." he told the older man as they were led to the training room. "Of people in black outfits fighting people who look like Quincies." he then paused for a moment, debating on telling the rest. When the arrived in the training room he could tell they were waiting for the rest of it. "A really scary man that I know is evil is trying to kill me. He seems to succeed, but then a bright light appears and then I usually wake up." he scratched his head. "There's this really weird guy there too. He's got a beard, is round and fat."
"Almost thought he was gonna describe Hachi there for a minute." Shinji joked causing a sly smile to cross Kisuke's face.
Ichigo frowned. "No." he told them causing both to look down at the boy. "His name is Ichibei." Shock crossed both men's faces as they both knew exactly who the boy was talking about. But how it possible that he even knew the name of one of the members of zero squad, was a mystery to both men.
"It's official," Verena began as she punched her fist into Ichigo's shoulder. "my brother is weird."
"Am not!" Indigo yelled at her, his face flushing.
"Are too!" she yelled back. "You see spirits, both the good and bad ones." she pointed out at him. "But that's okay." she giggled. "I'm weird too."
Indigo flushed. "Yeah, you're definitely weird." he mumbled only to get punched again. "Hey!" he cried out, swiping his palm at her, only for Verena to dodge him. The two then began a game of chase.
"You are crazy to be training those two." Shinji mutter before lifting his cap to scratch his head. "I must be crazy too for even considering in helping train that boy."
"Hmm..." Urahara hummed as he was now deep in thought.
"One question, how do you think he knew that name?" he inquired from his old friend.
Urahara watched the two children play fight for a moment before answering. "I don't know."
Shinji turned his attention to the two siblings before summing up his thoughts. "That's scary." he admitted because for once it would seem Urahara Kisuke was stumped by something.
M-Angel: Another stressful week. Hopefully things will get better. Thankfully I already had this chapter written, so that was one less thing to worry about. Hope everybody enjoyed this chapter. No questions needs to be answered for non-logged in comments this week. ^_^