A/N: Thank you all for reading this! Review Reponses at the end of the chapter now.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach!
Thank you very much for so many reviews and favorites and follows! Thank you so much for waiting patiently. Sorry this chapter took so long to get out.
~22~22~22~22~
Bleach: The Other Side of Me
Arc 2: The Memory Rosary Arc
Recap: Ichigo, Chad, Uryuu, and Orihime have just returned from the Soul Society, having succeeded in their mission to save Toushirou from an immoral and unjust execution. However, Aizen is still at large. Meanwhile, Toushirou is beginning to receive strange dreams about an ice dragon, who keeps telling him to 'remember'. Tired of not being able to help fight off the Hollows that now come after the Hogyouku, currently houses inside the white-haired boy's body, Toushirou's resolve hangs in the air by a single thread.
Chapter 23: The Kidou Master Reawakens
'And while taking off the glove will gain you more power, twenty-four hours afterward, your power will cease to exist.'
Uryuu's grandfather's words echoed in the young Quincy's mind. In the fight against Kurotsuchi, Uryuu had taken his glove off, his grandfather's warning in his head. He had managed to make Kurotsuchi retreat, if not badly wounding him, but Uryuu lost his powers because of it.
He had desperately hoped it wasn't true but no matter how much he wished so, it was true.
By the river, Ishida Uryuu tried once more to form his bow, but once again, just like the previous times, he had failed.
Chad and Orihime were still getting used to their powers, and he knew he would have to tell the others that he didn't have powers anymore sometime, but he couldn't. Not now.
He didn't have the heart or the courage to do so.
~B~L~E~A~C~H~T~H~E~O~T~H~E~R~S~I~D~E~O~F~M~E~T~H~E~M~E~M~O~R~Y~R~O~S~A~R~Y~A~R~C~
"You need to be more careful, Ichigo. One more incident like that and your record will be permanently marked as 'high school student with serious medical issues'," Toushirou scolded the carrot top. "I know that Ukitake said to use that badge, but if you don't use Kon when in public, you're gonna be in big trouble soon. You're lucky I was there."
"Enough with the lectures, Toushirou, geez," Ichigo groaned, tired from the battle with the hollow just now. The two were walking down the sidewalk on Main Street. "I get it, alright? I promise, next time, I'll use Kon. And how did you get that memory replacement stuff anyways?"
"It was a parting gift from Kuchiki Rukia. Somehow, she had a feeling we'd need it. She also mentioned something about 'that idiot carrot top' or something, although it could have been my imagination."
An irk mark spiked up on Ichigo's head. "That damn Rukia..." He angrily sighed, trying to get it all out of his system. "It's only been two days, Toushirou, and five hollows have shown up. Five! Just because they want that Hogyouku...rather, Aizen does..."
Toushirou subconsciously growled at the name.
"I know...that bastard..."
Ichigo did know, but at the same time, he didn't. A wave of nostalgia had washed over the former white-haired Captain, and he somewhat remembered the things Aizen had done to him, to Hinamori, in the past.
Yet, not wanting Ichigo to worry, Toushirou quickly changed the subjuect.
"You like Rukia, don't you?"
"Well, yeah, of course. I mean, she's a really good friend and all..."
Toushirou cut him off. "That's not what I meant." Ichigo noticed the smirk on his face, and a blush crawled across his features.
"No! Dammit, we're just friends! Nothing more!" The two turned the corner and stopped immediately. "What are these things?"
Toushirou scoffed. "You're asking me?" He glanced around at the other citizens nearby. They appeared to be unscathed by these...white ghost things with red pointy hats. "They appear to be...some kind of spirits. No one else can see them."
"Right." Ichigo reached into his back pocket, but he halted when he saw Toushirou's icy glare. He sweatdropped. "Oh, right. Sorry." He reached into his shoulder bag and pulled out Kon. Reaching into the stuffed animal's mouth, ignoring Kon's muffled screaming, Ichigo felt his fingertips touch the pill that was Kon's soul. He pulled it out and wiped it off on his shirt.
Disgusting...
Toushirou watched as his brother was forced out of his body and into his Shinigami garbs, with his blade steapped to his back. His heart nearly skipped a beat when one of the white ghosts had nearly grabbed him by the collar.
His first thought was, 'Are these things after me?'
If they truly were, Toushirou's next thought was to say, 'Ichigo, get out of here!'
Instead, he said, "Ichigo, they're spirits, right? Try to perform a konso on one of them."
Ichigo unstrapped his zanpakuto from his back and did as Toushirou had suggested. Nothing. "No effect."
"Tch...damn..." Toushirou managed to silence a scream as one of the ghosts tried to grab him. "Woah! Watch where you're grabbin' there, pal!" He felt a firm hand on his wrist, and his world just seemed to stop in that minute or two.
Help us... please...
He was snapped back to reality by Kon and Ichigo, through combined effort, pulling Toushirou out of the ghost's grasp and onto the ground.
"You okay?" Kon kneeled beside him. He didn't answer. He was speechless. So, he only nodded. It was the only thing he could do.
"They don't have any hollow masks," Ichigo exclaimed. "How do you kill these creeps?"
Then the ghosts just seemed to multiply. Kon was separated from Ichigo and Toushirou, and when he was shoved on the ground, he looked up to see a white-haired man in strange dark green armor just as a sharp wind blew across the area, followed by autumn leaves moving with the wind.
The two brothers were brought to the attention of a Shinigami, standard shihakusho, a large red ribbon tied around her waist, a yellow ribbon tying her black hair up in a ponytail, and gold eyes. She was slashing these ghosts left and right. She seemed to know how to kill them.
Jumping into the air, the wind seemed to follow her every movement, making her seem...graceful, even though the wind was very strong (and Toushirou didn't mind the cold at all). Her spirit energy was increasing and this could have only meant one thing.
Her zanpakuto...she was going to release it!
"Bring Them to the Twilight-!"
"Stop it!" Ichigo and the girl's blades clashed and all wind seemed to stop. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"Stay out of my way, Carrot Top!" The girl yelled back, kicking Ichigo in the fast and sending back down to the ground. He landed beside Toushirou. She started the whirlwind again.
"Bring Them to the Twilight, Mirokumaru!"
Her sword turned into a staff and, with it, she took out all of the ghosts. Once the ghosts were gone, so was the wind and so was the girl.
And the world turned back to normal. Living people began to come onto the scene.
"What...just happened?" Ichigo asked.
Toushirou scoffed again. "Again, you're asking me? How the hell should I know?"
"She took out all those white ghost things...all by herself..."
At least Ichigo tried to make sense of what was going on...at least Ichigo prevented one of the ghosts from getting to Toushirou...at least he tried to do something, like perform a konso on one of them...
And what did Toushirou do?
Nothing.
All he could do was sit on the sidelines and watch...
"Yeah! Alright! That felt so good! Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes!" The two brothers turned around and saw the same girl from before, the one who got rid of those ghosts. When she saw the two brothers, Ichigo, to be more specific, she stopped celebrating and the happy mood grew dark and gloomy. "Oh, it's you."
"You!" Ichigo yelled aloud. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Duh, this is Karakura Town. I live here."
"How'd you change into your gigai so fast?!"
"Ichigo..." Toushirou scolded. He turned to the girl. "Kurosaki Toushirou, and this is Kurosaki Ichigo. Thank you for taking out those ghosts. Do you have any idea what they're called or what they want?"
"Nope, haven't got the slightest idea~!" A sweatdrop appeared on Toushirou's head. "And, hi, it's nice to meet you. My name is Senna." She stuck her hand out for them to shake.
Ichigo refused, still unable to believe that this girl was right in front of him, but Toushirou accepted.
As soon as they hands touched...
'I'm off now, Shirou-chan~!'
'Stop calling me that, Bedwetter!'
'Hehe~! When you finally go to the same grown-up school as I do, I'll use your real name!'
'Forget that! Why would I want to go to some stupid Shinigami school?!'
But then their contact ceased and Toushirou's mind went back to normal.
What was that?
"Oh, hey, um..." Senna continued. "You might to go see what that commotion is over there, Ichigo."
"What? Why?" Ichigo demanded.
Senna nodded her head in the intended direction. "Check it out?"
Ichigo's body was laying on the floor, with Kon's pill out of his mouth.
Ichigo freaked out as Toushirou pulled out the memory replacement, sighing the entire way. The white haired kid grabbed Senna by her school-shirt collar before she could successfully get away.
"Not so fast. We have more questions for you."
~B~L~E~A~C~H~T~H~E~O~T~H~E~R~S~I~D~E~O~F~M~E~
Isshin, Yuzu, and Karin had met Senna, whom the boys had taken home with them. She had informed them of not having a place to live, to which Ichigo was so irritated about. Senna had fallen asleep in Ichigo's bed and Toushirou had lent Ichigo his own bed, stating that he wasn't planning on sleeping at home tonight anyways. Too tired to find out what his brother meant, Ichigo went out like a light.
And now, Urahara greeted the person who had just walked into the shop. "Normally, I would say the shop is closed at this time of night, but, you, Hitsugaya Toushirou, are no ordinary customer. What can I do for you today?"
"Urahara-san, I want you to teach me kidou. From the very top."
The shopkeeper blinked in surprise. "What?"
"During my life as a Shinigami, I was a kidou master, right? I was thinking that maybe if I unlock that side of my powers, I could get my memories back faster."
Urahara stopped fooling around, knowing that Toushirou was dead serious about this. "Honestly, there's no telling if that is true or not. However, you have already demonstrated kidou once before. I say we give it a shot. Come to the shop tomorrow morning and we'll have our first session. However, you are a former Shinigami whose been reborn. Basically, that means you are a Shinigami who is still alive, not dead. I should warn you ahead of time. Training to enhance your kidou abilities, or Shinigami abilities of any kind will put some serious strain on your body. You may get seriously ill when your body finally breaks down because of it. Worse, you could even die..."
"I don't care what it takes, Urahara! I'm just so sick and tired of watching on the sidelines!"
Kisuke was silent as he pondered over this. He wanted to be useful...he didn't like people protecting him...
He liked being the sheild, not the shielded.
"Alright. Tomorrow morning it is then." Kisuke opened his fan. "Oh, by the way, you came here alone, didn't you?"
Toushirou nodded. "Yeah."
"Late at this time of night?"
"Yes. Why?"
"That's dangerous, you know, especially since your body holds the Hogyouku now." Toushirou felt his knees wobble under Urahara's stare. "You should go to sleep. It's late. Don't worry, you'll be fine once you wake up."
His vision went blurry and his brain just seemed to stop working, and Toushirou passed out, landing in Urahara's arms.
"It's about time I make my stand and protect you, Hitsugaya."
Even if it killed him, whether Aizen liked it or not, Urahara Kisuke was going to hide that Hogyouku from the former fifth division Captain's nose, no matter what it took.
~23~23~23~23~
Anybody want to guess what Urahara was planning to do? And why Toushirou had that memory when he and Senna shook hands?
A/N: Review, please! Tell me how I did! X( Motivation block is killing me! T^T I hope you liked it! Review Responses:
Anashi: Thank you for your kindness! And no, do not worry, I have not forgotten about this story. I was just on a long motivation block. But I am back now.
Toshiro with love: Well, here it is! I hope you enjoy this chapter.
azure blue espeon: I tried to do as you asked. How did I do?
skylark dragonstar: No Soul Reapers for a while, at least, not for one more chapter. But more hints of Toushirou getting his powers back in this chapter.
darkstardragon432: Thank you. Here you go!
Demon2Angel: Thank you very much!
Shiro Neko: Hello once more~! Enjoy this next chapter, I hope you will.
author1232: I will finish this story, don't worry.
Bloody Lord: Here you go, and in due time, yes, he will. (Finally a straight answer! No cliffhangers or mysteries! Someone tell the press and the media!)
Akari Kamiya: Thank you. I tried my best with this idea. I've also had the idea of "What if Hitsugaya was the one who gave Ichigo is Shinigami powers instead of Rukia?" to be honest. I like the Ichigo and Hitsugaya brother kind of friendship in the series. It's quite touching and makes for a lot of funny scenes as well, especially the second Bleach movie.