A/N: Many thanks to my reviewers again! The chapters are slowly getting longer as I get accustomed to writing this story, but you can still expect weekly updates.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, just the things I make them do.
Chapter 3: Close Encounters
He was floating peacefully, drifting, a sharp contrast to the cloud of darkness that had once surrounded him. Called to a certain destination as if it was fate, he slowly moved towards a voice in the distance that was growing clearer and sharper with each minute. After what seemed like forever, but might have been no time at all, his drifting came to an unexpected halt and he crashed to the ground, noise flooding his ears.
"This's the last call fer tickets! Hey, you there! Come 'an get yer ticket!" Ichigo looked around in a daze, trying to take in his unfamiliar surroundings. "Hey, kid, did j'ya here me? Come over here and get yer ticket!" When he realized all the yelling was directed at him, he stood up, walked over, and snatched the paper out of the loud man's hand.
"Thanks," he growled and stomped off to join a long line of people. Wow, why is everyone so tall? Wait a minute...it worked! I'm- "Last call! Anyone else? No? Alright, here y'all go!" The last thing Ichigo saw was the man pressing a button before he was whisked away to another strange place.
"Crap!", he said when he not so gracefully landed on his back. Why can't I ever land on my feet...and where the hell am I? He took in his surroundings and realized the architecture was eerily familiar. Almost apprehensively he looked in the distance and saw the thing he hated most in the world. Senzaikyuu...wait, why am I in Soul Society? If this is the past, then judging by my height I should be in my early teens...am I dead? Why can't I remember what happened?
Ichigo looked at the paper the man had given him and read "East Rukongai. 37th District." Well this is just great, what am I supposed to do now? I need to find Rukia...and I have to figure out why the timeline is different from my memories. "Huh? There's something else here..." He opened a small packet to find some Soul Society money. After examining it he figured that if the currency system was the same as in Japan it would be enough cash for a week's worth of food.
Ichigo wandered around the area until he came to the outskirts of the district. He spotted a hill with a large cherry tree in full bloom and raced up to get a better view. Looking around, he saw the Senzaikyuu more clearly, but a few miles away he saw another, more elaborate building near what was probably one of the first districts. He stared at it, trying to remember what it was, but he couldn't ever recall seeing the structure before.
"Do you want to be a shinigami too?" Ichigo jumped and looked around to see a small boy with a round face and curly black hair looking up at him.
"Sh-shinigami?" Ichigo asked, surprised. How had the boy known? Was he thinking out loud?
"Oh, you must be new here. Listen, there are two ways to come to Soul Society. One is if you die normally and a shinigami gives you a soul burial to come to this place. You remember that, don't you?" Ichigo shook his head, both in response to the question and to play along with the little boy's simple explanation. "Oh...then you probably came here as a hollow." Ichigo paled. What? "I have a friend who was a hollow. He says all he can remember of the time is being smothered by an evil presence. The other duty of shinigami is to cleanse the hollows of their sins and send the purified souls to Soul Society." Ichigo was speechless. What if he had killed someone? How could he not remember roaming the human world, probably Karakura Town, and killing people, maybe people he knew?
"Don't be too hard on yourself. There's nothing you can do to change the past." Ichigo laughed out loud at the irony of the statement and figured he would think about the implications later.
"How did you know I wanted to be a Shinigami?" Ichigo asked, trying to act lighthearted. How could he have revealed something so early in the game?
"Um, well you were staring at the Central Reijutsu Academy or the 'Shinigami Academy' like your life depended on it. They should be starting the year's testing really soon, so you came here at the perfect time. I want to be one too, but my spiritual energy isn't developed enough yet. By the way, my name is Vasquez Clodoveo" Ichigo raised an eyebrow, marveling at the boy's incredibly quick dialogue and odd name. "I was born in Spain. I'm pretty sure I died in an apartment fire in Tokyo when I was real little, but I can't remember much."
"Kurosaki Ichigo. I'm from Karakura Town, but I don't remember how I died."
"That seems pretty common. Me remembering as much as I do is really rare, and most people barely know their names and a small part of the time they spent as a spirit. Don't know why though." They fell into silence, until a sudden gust of wind blew the cherry tree they were leaning on and the blossoms scattered around their heads.
"Augh!" Ichigo yelled and panicked, frantically reached for the sword on his back. Not finding it, he thrust his hand to protect his face, wondering what the hell Kuchiki Byakuya was doing in Rukongai and why he was attacking him.
Clodoveo broke into laughter next to him. "Afraid of little cherry blossoms, Ichigo-kun?"
Ichigo came to his senses and turned bright red before looking away from the boy who was laughing again. "Shut up. I've had a few bad experiences with cherry blossoms. Those things are deadly if used properly..." he trailed off, realizing how stupid he sounded.
"Your spiritual energy may be high enough, but you should probably work on your courage before you try becoming a shinigami, Ichigo-kun." Ichigo had turned his back in embarrassment again, so Clodoveo gathered some cherry blossoms and snuck up behind an oblivious Ichigo, then dumped them all on his head.
"Augh!" Ichigo cried and scrambled away from his spot, eager to get away from Kuchiki Byakuya's deadly shikai. He looked back and realized he had made a fool of himself again when he spotted Clodoveo doubled over in laughter. "Shouldn't you be in bed?" Ichigo yelled angrily at the boy, pointing at the rapidly setting sun.
"Oh no! Mom'll kill me!" Clodoveo jumped up and started racing away saying, "It was nice meeting you, Ichigo-kun! Good luck on becoming a shinigami!" Ichigo smirked and waved back, then turned towards the Academy. I should set out tomorrow. Judging by the distance I can make it in less than a day. And if I become an official shinigami, then I'll be able to meet up with Rukia. Besides, I'll fly through the lessons since I'm great at Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hohou...oh shit.
Kidou.
--
"And she hugged me out of nowhere!" Clang! "I don't know what the hell she was thinking..." Clang! "...I mean, aren't nobles supposed to stay away from us lower-class shinigami?" Bang! The blades met with enough force to send a distracted Renji flying backwards to hit the opposite wall. "Crap, ow!"
"Don't let your guard down, stupid! No matter what happened, you're still not through Kuchiki Byakuya!" Renji and Ikkaku were in the Eleventh Division training grounds as usual that morning, and Renji was adamant on relaying the entire episode of the previous day to his mentor. Ikkaku smirked, "Anything good happen?"
"Eh?" Renji stopped his sword for a moment and Ikkaku sliced his shoulder. Renji grabbed his injury and grimaced in pain. "Oh, that was cheap! You knew I would do that!"
Ikkaku grinned, and motioned for the fight to start again. "Your opponent won't hesitate to use anything and everything against you. Be prepared, or you'll get killed no matter how good of a fighter you are!" Clang! Clang! "How close are you to Bankai?"
"I still have a long ways to go..." Clang! "...but Rukia said 'See you later!' Can you believe it?"
"I don't care what Rukia said!" Clang! "As long as Kuchiki Byakuya's better than you..." Clang! "...it doesn't matter what Rukia says! She'll always be pulled away from you again!" Ikkaku accentuated the statement with a strong attack that sent Renji flying again.
--
Ichigo looked at the beautiful sunrise, the scenery oddly devoid of any of the buildings and lights he was used to. After a little mental preparation he stood up to start his journey to become a "real" shinigami.
"Hey, Ichigo-kun! Wait!" He turned around to see Clodoveo running after him. Ichigo had just used a good portion of his money to buy a bag and a few days worth of food, and was about to head through the gates to the Shinigami Academy. "Wait!"
"What are you doing here, Clodoveo-san? I have to go."
The small boy started digging through his pockets. "I wanted to see you off and give you this!" He held out his hand to show him an oddly shaped pink rock. "I found it near my house a few years ago, and I've kept it for good luck. You can keep it, though, so in a few years when you're a famous shinigami you'll remember me!"
Ichigo frown softened, and he looked closer at the rock. "It has a strange resemblance to a cherry blossom." He said, his face returning to his trademark scowl.
Clodoveo grinned even wider. "That's the other reason why you should have it. Maybe you'll get over your fear of cherry trees of you keep it with you!" The boy ran over to Ichigo's bag and shoved the rock inside. "Don't forget to visit me! My mom says I can try the entrance exams in two years, so maybe I'll see you."
"Alright. See you later, Clodoveo-san." He said as he picked up his bag and turned to walk away.
"Bye, Kurosaki Ichigo!"
--
"Rukia."
Said girl looked up from her dinner, surprised her brother had chosen to break the traditional silence. "Yes, nii-sama?"
"I will be going to the First Division for official business, and you should accompany me." Byakuya barely looked at her as he spoke.
"Yes, nii-sama." She had been thinking about visiting Renji this afternoon, but figured it could wait until tomorrow. Still, why do I have such a bad feeling about this trip? She tried to remember what would happen, but she and her brother had been on so many outings over the decades that it was difficult to pinpoint only one. She could only hope her intuition was wrong as she finished her meal in silence.
--
After running for hours, and using his spiritual energy to keep his stamina up (and maybe slipping in a shunpo or two), Ichigo could clearly see the Shinigami Academy. Over one of the walls there were students in official red and blue uniforms purposefully walking in different directions, and over another were what seemed like hundreds of souls milling about in average Rukongai clothing. That's probably for the entrance exams, he thought as he walked over to the second wall.
He quickly reached a tall shinigami in front of the wall who held a gigantic book and looked extremely bored. "Name?"
"Kurosaki Ichigo."
The gangly man scribbled something in the book, then carelessly waved his hand at the entrance. "Go on through." Two large doors opened and he walked past the wall to wait with the other hopefuls. Finding a comfortable spot on a short grassy ledge, he sat down and opened his bag to find some food.
"Excuse me." He looked next to him to see a short girl with long brown hair. "Could you spare an apple? I didn't think to bring food...I didn't know the wait would be this long." Ichigo dug through his bag until he found one and handed it to her, not speaking since his mouth was full. "Thank you." The girl said, before devouring the apple like she hadn't eaten in centuries.
Ichigo looked at her strangely. "How long has it been since you ate?"
"Um, it took me a day and a half to get here, and I've been here since noon today, so...about two days?" Ichigo's eyes widened, and he went back to his bag and started flinging food at her. She yelled in surprise and frantically tried to catch all the food.
"Why didn't you tell me that sooner, stupid! Do you think that's enough?" She nodded. "What's your name? And how long are we going to wait?"
"My name is Minobe Kaeda. They've been going through names alphabetically ever since I got here, and I'm pretty sure they're in the late H's...so they'll probably get to me tomorrow morning. It takes a really long time to test each person."
"What? Tomorrow morning? Damn!" He scowled more than usual and put away the food he didn't feel like eating. "Kurosaki Ichigo."
"Huh?"
"That's my name, stupid."
"Oh, sorry." They sat in silence and watched as the sun slowly set. Finally, the girl turned towards Ichigo. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow. I need to find somewhere soft to lie down. Thanks for the food." She yawned, stood up, waved, and walked away towards a grassy area with a large tree above it. Noticing that area was filling up quickly, Ichigo scooted back on his ledge and stretched out, using his nearly-empty bag as a pillow.
--
"Good mornin', Cap-tain-Ku-chi-ki." Rukia was frozen. Her face immediately broke into a sweat. She could've handled Tousen. She could even have handled Aizen, the bastard. But the terribly familiar feeling of snakes constricting her was now joined by burning hate for Renji, Ururu, and Jinta's killer. She quickly closed her eyes, trying to calm her breathing. "...you must not let them know what you are planning. This is of utmost importance."
"Lookin' a little faint there, Ru-ki-a-chan. Are ya gettin' sick?" Rukia looked up to see Gin smiling down at her, and struggled to stop herself from stabbing the man with her zanpaktou right then and there.
"No, it's nothing..." She looked at her brother, and ground out "...Captain Ichimaru."
A/N: There's a few OC's in this one, but don't worry about any pairings since right now Ichigo's only "eleven" years old. Reviews are greatly appreciated!
