I'm still alive in case you're wondering, just half-dead because of the loadsome of schoolworks. But, hey, I managed to make this chapter. Not much to say beside an apology for the lateee update. Sorry guys! And thanks for everyone who reviewed in the last chapter! Enjoy then :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. Kubo Tite does.
Notice: I found that Ichigo's conversation latter in his mind in this chapter (and I believe, for further chapter) was slightly confusing, due with all the talks written in Italic. So I decided to write this for some helps.
'…' (Ichigo talks)
"…" (Hichigo talks)
Although, yeah, if you read it by skimming (which sometimes I did because of the lack of time, aaand I don't think I'm the only to do this in the world), this could be completely pointless.
It was quite a nice day at Karakura; a clear blue sky without any cotton-candy like cloud to spot, such day would have been very enjoyable if one neglected the heavy feeling in the air. Yes, no birds were passing by through the unusually clear sky; how the air felt tense and heavy, and the town was quiet, albeit the murmuring of some anxious mothers of their children who had been unlucky enough to not comeback home yet.
Of course, a certain green-wearing shop owner noticed this feeling, too. Urahara Kisuke took a deep breath and sighed, before putting back his hat which had been lying on the floor untouched just now. The blonde glanced at a nearby calendar at his room (the usual green tatami'd room with a small round wooden table at the center of the room) and saw the date of today.
11th of August.
'Time sure passes quickly, hmm?' he thought that to himself and smiled weakly to none. 'It's nearly 4 years since that 'little' incident.'
He glided across the floor and leaned his head on the also-green wall, sighing once again and looked at the window-pane beside. His glazy eyes scrutinized the clear blue sky, moving up and down from the sky to the quiet town beneath from his working room. Any ordinary people would'd seen the sky as the usual another clear and peaceful day of Karakura Town albeit slightly intimidating by how quiet it was, but sadly, he didn't.
In the sky, Urahara saw black markings staining the blue sky, moving incredibly fast from side to side with some horde of white being slashed and cut and pierced by a sharp, glistening thing that the black thing carried along in his sprint.
Why, he didn't need to move closer to the place to have a better sight of the creature; he already knew what they were—a Shinigami and a horde of Hollows.
It should've been a usual sight for him, for he was a Shinigami too once. But he couldn't help but feel intrigued after realizing the shinigami who was fighting the Hollow right now, especially after the hunch he made earlier was proven after seeing an orange hue in the middle of the black thing.
Well, it was indeed a usual sight; Kurosaki Ichigo was the Soul Society's Substitute Shinigami who was ordered to patrol Karakura Town after all. The reckless boy would dash off from his house and would kill any Hollow roaming in the street in sight, even if he was not called for. But what intrigued him was not the sight itself, it's the feeling that the boy emanated from the outside, specifically, his overflowing reiatsu that seemed to be mixed with…something.
He chuckled and shook his head flippantly; the Kurosaki family was indeed interesting, weren't they?
Just before he could return to his workloads of his shop's expenses and unpaid taxes, pretending to be oblivious to the sight, suddenly the door slid open, revealing a stout man with a worried look that's not matching with his manly face and muscular body.
"Kisuke!!" Tessai cried. "Outside, it's Kurosaki Ichigo-dono—,"
"Now, now, Tessai, why don't you take a breath and calm yourself down?" Urahara still joked despite the tone Tessai used earlier, alarming like an emergencies situation was in, although the bigger man nodded and followed his advice after then.
"Kisuke." Now his voice was collected and his eyes –still shaded by his spectacles- trailed to the window and saw the shinigami and the hollows, also noticing the reiatsu the boy emanated. "You've seen Kurosaki-dono outside, haven't you?"
Urahara nodded, his face was stern now.
"Should we tell Isshin about this?"
Urahara shook his head.
Tessai sighed upon seeing the shop owner reaction and then quickly regained his composure and stated, "Kisuke, you sould've been more open to your customer, especially if it was Isshin.". The he added, "You really don't want him to go rage against you."
Urahara didn't react directly to Tessai's accusation, nor did he try to deny it; he usually kept the most crucial secrets unknown to his customers—and his friends. And he didn't deny the fact that Isshin-san was a powerful shinigami too, though. In one-on-one match, there's likely that he'd lose from the Kurosaki. Regardless, his eyes glanced back to the shinigami floating above the town, somehow his ear caught a piercing roar of agony by being slashed from the hollow outside. But he neglected it nevertheless.
"…I didn't do it as a seller," A sudden faint voice resonated through the room, earning Tessai's attention back to the man sitting at the far-end of the room.
"I did it as Isshin-san's friend." Urahara added.
The stout man didn't reply, instead his moustache wriggled a bit after the ex-shinigami captain's statement. Not everyday you could hear Kisuke saying something along those lines. Heh, even maybe this was the first time Tessai heard Urahara said something honest concerning his social relationship like that.
"Beside," Urahara stood up from where he was sitting once and readjusted his hat, "even if I did it as a seller, what we've given to Isshin-san was not a fail product, right?"
"Not yet." Tessai warned the green-wearing man again, prodding his glassess as he did so. "If this last any longer, Kurosaki-dono's mind could not endure the pain inflicted to him by the ressurection of his brother. Either the both of them will break down, or it'll end as bad as you'd predicted."
"Don't you worry, Tessai." The green-wearing man padded on the green floor, reaching his hand onto a cane placed at the corner of the room –Benihime, the zanpakutou hidden as a stick-, swung it lightly before placing it on his right shoulder. Urahara padded across the room and walked pass the bigger man, saying, "Kurosaki-san is a strong boy."
Urahara then left, leaving Tessai in complete solitude in the plain green room. Why, why did he not reassured by Urahara's statement? Sure, he knew the scientist should have made a plan in the back of his mind secretly and about Kurosaki-dono was a strong boy, but…
Why did he have a feeling like a catastrophe would befall them later?
A certain short in both hair and height shinigami was rushing through the road of Karakura Town, a zanpakutou with the color of an ice attached on her waist, undetected by the other innocent ordinary peoples that kept passing by on her journey. The shinigami was clutching a white handphone in her clenched hand, a beeping noise occasionally rang from it.
"Aaarrggh!! Why should Hollows come at a time like this!?" she shouted to no one indignantly, and it's not like the other peoples could hear her shouting like mad anyway.
Well, some times ago, when Kuchiki Rukia was trying to come back to her temporary house to drag Ichigo to have an 'examination' at Urahara's shop, suddenly her handphone –which a Hollow radar application was downloaded in- rang and she quickly phased to her shinigami form, leaving her gigai at the hand of Chappy. And, of course, she was not completely happy with it. Hence she was shouting endlessly to let her anger out from her before proceeding into the battle.
Rukia then leapt into the air and focused on the reiatsu around her to make the air substantial for her, proceeding to make a way in the air. Rukia kept running on the air until she found her targets. Just above the small park of the also relatively small Karakura Town, lay a horde of Hollows, rotating a single shadowy figure clad in a black shihakushō, who was slaying the Hollows mercilessly, bloods splattered and coloured the blue sky before the heartless creatures disintegrated into a thick layer of dusts. The shinigami (Ichigo, of course, Rukia assured herself, looking at the clearly seen silly colour of orange protruding from his head, although she was watching in distance) was flailing his cleaver-like zanpakuto in an incredible speed, unseen by naked eyes.
'He doesn't need any help,' Rukia thought to herself, and nearly wanted to leave the area before she finally realized about something and quickly turned her head to the fighting shinigami.
'Dammit, Rukia! You silly! Ichigo still has those wounds from yesterday!' she smacked her head mentally and quickly ran to the fighting area indignantly. 'Now what would happen if he wounded himself again? Or another deep cut across the chest? Nearly got himself killed?! Aaack! What's wrong with your mind, Rukia!! You don't want to be stuck in the same room with those weirdos again—,'
Suddenly, something clicked on the back of her mind.
'Urahara.' The enigmatic man's name seemed to echo on her mind.
Rukia closed her eyes for a moment to try to recall what the ex-captain said to her this morning. About that one particular conversation.
"What do you want to talk about?" Rukia asked Urahara as her hands drifted slowly to the door and closed it. The said man was already sitting on the far-end of his private room, separated by the others and located far back in the suprisingly large house. He chose this room since he said to the female shinigami that it was best that this conversation was not going to be heard by anyone.
But the green-wearing man didn't answer and his gaze trailed off to the outside world, behind the glassframe. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, before gazing back to the raven-haired shinigami.
"Kuchiki-san?"
"What?"
"If anything ever happens to Kurosaki-san in the future…,"
"…could you kill him?"
What a load of bullshit, Rukia thought to herself, then rushing towards the other fighting shinigami a few distances away.
What did that hat-and-clogs think anyway? Was his mind got defected somehow (well, that what usually happened to genius) and he couldn't even think straight anymore? He—he didn't expect her to, really, kill her best friend, did he?! Even on the most dangerous circumstances, she would not, ever, kill her friends…
Or would she?
"Wh—what do you mean?" Rukia asked Urahara again with her brow creased, unsure by the seller's 'odd' pleading. "Th-there's nothing wrong with Ichigo, right?!"
"I don't want to be rude, but…," Urahara averted his gaze from the raven-haired girl, seemingly trying to avoid eye contacts.
"…I'm afraid he would end up like Shiba-san."
That's it. Urahara succesfully pushed Rukia's berserk button whereas she landed a couple of Byakurai outright to his face out from anger. She then quickly rushed off from the private room without looking at the seemingly uninjured Urahara and went to check Ichigo instead (where then she found the redhead was already awoke). That's just too much for her to bear, and of course she don't want to recall any of those events that traumatize her so much.
She sighed and bit her lips when she stopped her dash, the fighting Ichigo a few distances away from her. Rukia braced herself, trying to make the thought go away from her mind as she reached out her hands, trying to position it in one way with a hollow few meters in front.
"Hadou #4: Byakurai!!"
Her hands started to glow blue in just a split seconds before a blue thunder jolted from her palm, succesfully knocking the Hollow in front of her before the creature scattered into the air in dust form. While Ichigo slashed the last Hollow in the air and went still afterwards, leaving an awkward silence hung in the air. He didn't just make himself wounded again, did he?
"Ichigo?" Rukia asked, to reassure herself that the redhead was not hurt at all, but Ichigo didn't turn around nor moving in the slightest, his back still facing the raven-haired female.
"Ichigo, are you alright?" Rukia asked once more, and should she want to take another step forward…
…Zangetsu would cut her in half when the cleaver-like zanpakuto suddenly swing, nearly hitting her body.
"?!"
Rukia moved a few meters backward by the surprise attack, fortunate that she used a shunpō by instinct, tightening her grip on Sode no Shirayuki's hilt while her perplexed face saw… 'Ichigo', she thought, although a bit unsure, who was standing in front of her, Zangetsu still firm in his hand.
"Ichi…go?"
Then she noticed it, a faint colour of yellow glowing in his eyes, piercing right through her gaze, while she broke down, nearly losing her grip to Sode no Shirayuki's hilt because of sweats accumulated on her palm.
'Who…is this?!'
"Who are you?!" Rukia screamed to the 'Ichigo', but then was replied by a heavy blow of reiatsu being whipped through her body. She screamed, but found out that her voice was blocked the heavy amount of the reiatsu, making no word came out from her mouth. She tried to gasp for air, but it's like the reiatsu was piercing her lungs, making her gasping like crazy to catch for air. And when she tried to look up, she was greeted by a grin. A maniacal grin paired by a menacing golden eyes coming right from the scowling redhead she knew.
But just when she was nearly crushed by the weight of the reiatsu, the heavy tense of 'Ichigo''s reiatsu died down, his yellow iris returning back to his warm chocolate-brown one. And the place went peaceful, enabling Rukia to breath more properly, although still drenched in sweat after 'that' fearful moment.
The world went still, and, like he just had woken up from a dream, Ichigo's eyes widened and his hand –which was holding Zangetsu- fell to the side, looking at the exhausted female in front of him.
"Ru…kia?"
Rukia's eyes widened at the sudden change of aura, but she couldn't help when a weak smile crept up into her mouth, feeling relieved. 'This is Ichigo,' she thought. 'The usual Ichigo I knew.'
Without further question, the substitute shinigami went shunpō to reach Rukia. It only took him a second, and when he reached her side, the girl suddenly slapped his cheek. Hard.
"You, fool!!" A vein spasmed on her forehead, making Ichigo dumbstrucked by the sudden change of scene.
"W-what?!"
"You!!" She slapped him again. "Nearly!!" And slapped him again. "Frightened!!" And another slap. "Me!!" And another one. "To!!" And another. "Death!!". And another. "You!!". And the last. "JERK!!"
And when the barrage of slap ended, Ichigo had had his cheek red, and should I add that he was nearly broken to tears?
"What the hell was that for, you midget?!" Ichigo retaliated back, pinning the female's temple with both of his fist while Rukia screamed in pain.
"Aaarrgh!! St-stop that!! It hurts!" She screamed again, catching Ichigo's wrist with her small hand and trying to scooted it off of her head. To no avail, though. "You seriously frightened me back there—owwch, stop!!"
"Then what would you call 'barrage slapping' then?! A cordial wake up call for a comrade from his beauty sleep?! Why, thank you very much!!"
"Sleeping?! But you've been fighting earlier! Hello, wake up, Ichigo! Don't dream anymore! And stop pinning my head!!"
Ichigo raised his eyebrow while his hand loosing its pinning job earlier. He glanced at Rukia who was rubbing her temple, confused by her shouting just now. What the hell was this midget talking about? He had been sleeping peacefully on his bed until a few seconds ago, thanks for her slapping!
But when he looked below, he was even more confused when he realized that he was standing above Karakura Town, which meant… he had phased to his shinigami form all along? But, when? Or was he walking in his dream again? Nor did he actually remember that he was dreaming, though.
"You mean, Rukia," Ichigo said, earning Rukia's attention back to him again. "I was fighting here—with Hollow, I think, earlier?"
Rukia's eyebrow twitched, the boy sure hadn't waken up from his dream yet. "Well, what, you didn't?"
Ichigo shook his head, looking confused, "Because I don't feel that I did that. I mean, the last thing I remember was my head hitting the pillow. And I thought I was sleeping peacefully in my room?"
Doubt once again planted its seed on Rukia's mind again. So, the guy didn't realize that he was slashing hollows earlier? Was he just in a trance state? Or…, what? She gulped a little, she needed a confirmation firstly."So, you don't remember that you were fighting some hollows?"
"No. But it's weird anyway," Ichigo scratched his head. "how can I don't remember about what I had done earlier? Heh, I'm not possessed, aren't I." Ichigo just laughed flippantly at his self-made joke, but, for Rukia, it didn't feel like a joke at all. Contrary to the former, this actually frightened her.
"…I'm afraid he would end up like Shiba-san."
That sentence, the one that Urahara said to her earlier, kept ringing in her mind. Possessed, like Ichigo had addressed earlier although it was just a guess. Possessed, like Shiba-san decades ago by that Hollow.
'He would end up like Shiba-san.'
No, no, no! So this was what Urahara meant by those words?! Ichigo, 'possessed' by some yet to be known force that nearly killed her earlier?! No! She wouldn't allow that happen once again. Not to Ichigo; not to her friend; not to anyone.
"Ichigo," her small hand quickly grabbed the redhead's wrist, too tight to Ichigo's favor although the boy just shrugged it off. "Do you happen to meet someone—something, be it a person—or Hollow, in the past few days?"
Ichigo's shoulder stiffened by the sudden change of Rukia's voice; hesitant and slightly worried, although he discarded it quickly when he heard the last part of her question. Someone—or something strange? He only could think about one particular person in his mind. Yes, that one. That imposter who had been saying all the time that he was his twin or something like that. But where did Rukia know about such thing? Especially considering that he just met that freaky white-man yesterday? He even hadn't mentioned this to anyone!
"Where did you hear about him?" Ichigo asked solemnly, slightly afraid of the female's inquiry.
"What? So you have indeed met with someone strange? Why don't you tell me earlier?!" Rukia shot him a surprised look while her grip tightened. 'Oh, shit.' Ichigo cursed himself as he slapped his head mentally, growing uncomfortable by the thought of where this conversation would lead them to. 'It's just a hunch, and I've practically confirmed it.'
"Nothing." He replied, too quickly than his usual saying, which made Rukia's eyebrows creased even more.
"You liar, you contradict yourself there, Ichigo." She stated, while her free hand resting on her hips, giving an authority-vibe from the Kuchiki. "I want you to tell me who this guy is, now."
"He's nothing to be talked of." Ichigo replied in a cold tone, shoting a glare to the raven-haired female, giving a sign of how he really despised talking about that guy who'd been invading his mind yesterday.
"Stop being a jerkass and told me already!!" Rukia shouted, her patient nearly dried by how his friend sometimes could be so hard-headed and locked all of his problems by himself. "You don't say that the person you met was your brother, do you?!"
"He's not my brother!!" Ichigo shouted back indignantly, louder than the tone Rukia used earlier while his hand broke free Rukia's grip, leaving a kind of reddish mark on her palm since he slapped hers earlier.
"He's not, and never had been, my brother even once!!" the redhead screamed, clenching his fist while his nails dug onto the soft skin of his hand. "He's just—just a freak, a freak that just appeared outta nowhere and easily claimed that he's my twin or something!! I don't know that guy!!"
Rukia stayed on where she was standing, nor speak any word at all; she need to give Ichigo a time to lash his problem out from his mind, to actually share it with someone.
"I don't…don't know him, Rukia…," Ichigo voice sounded weak and almost pleading while his hand ran through his hair, a desperate look on his eyes like the end of the world was going to befall him later. "You need to believe me. Please."
"Ichigo…," Rukia said in a weak voice too, but afraid that her concern and sympathy over the redhead in front of him was shown to clearly. Lord knew how Ichigo hated sympathy. Then she asked, in a mother-lovingly voice, "Do you have a brother—your twin, Ichigo?"
"I…don't know." Ichigo replied weakly. This was an honest answer, Rukia thought to herself, the boy really did not know about his brother, or so Tatsuki say. But, it's the best of time to try to check it right now.
"Then do you want to try, Ichigo?"
The chocolate-brown eyes of Ichigo met her purple one, shooting a confused look. She just smiled.
"Try checking the existence of your twin."
So on, Ichigo and Rukia were now walking in the middle of the graveyard, with no words had been spoken since they left from the area earlier. Rukia was walking in front of Ichigo, who was seriously quiet for a known reason, his gaze fixed on his own feet.
Rukia, too, was quiet, and moreover, feeling guilty for her insolence by pestering Ichigo to try to find his so-called his twin who, by any chance, could not exist at all, despite all of Tatsuki's story she had told her a moment ago. But she just wanted to confirm her –and Ichigo's- doubt; the existence of his twin. Then, why the graveyard, you ask? Judging from how Tatsuki ended her story, with how she hadn't met with Hichigo since, Rukia guessed that the closest thing to logic was this Hichigo was dead. And, Ichigo had told her once that he born in Karakura, and the only graveyard Karakura Town ever had was this one. That's why they –or she, since Ichigo hadn't talked since their conversation earlier- chose this place, where basically all corpses in Karakura was buried in.
Then, if they did find his graveyard should it ever exist at all, this would greatly increase her accusation on who had possessed Ichigo that time. The basic instinct of Hollow was to fill its void in heart by eating the person they loved, so maybe Ichigo's twin hadn't pass through the living world to Soul Society, leaving him with the only choice of becoming an unpurified plus. Maybe his soul chain had finally devoured itself, turning him into a hollow which could explain the reason why he appeared in front of Ichigo recently.
But, Ichigo did say after their departure that the odd person he met (high chance that this guy was really his hollowed twin, Rukia thought) was…human-looking. No mask, no hole, just a normal white-shihakushō wearing white guy who's been messing with Ichigo's mind. Yeah, normal. Anyway, joke aside, somehow Rukia had a very little doubt that that guy Ichigo told her was his twin, a gaping hole that prevent her from confirming his guess of her first conclusion. Because his description of his pyhsical atributes were distinctly far from a Hollow's. Heck, even this was a news to her of a hollow resembling a human's body, note that it's just an 'if', if the guy Ichigo met was indeed a Hollow.
It's not the time to think, though. They need to confirm it first before jumping into any conclusion.
But… this silent was seriously unnerving, Rukia thought to herself as her shoulder stiffened. How could she start her search if she had a feeling of being stalked by an unknown, evil-intended person? Yes, somehow Ichigo's aura was different that the usual, like he's going to kill you any time lest you're making a wrong move.
She gulped; maybe it's a good thing to break the silent now?
"Ichigo, want to try to go a little bit further?"
Nothing rang from the redhead's mouth, just sound of foot steps echoing in the air. Then she realized, this place was near the grave of Ichigo's late mother. She had a doubt that this was the reason, though. But asking never hurt, right?
"Want to stop for a moment, Ichigo?"
"No."
His immediate reply nearly frightened her to death, but she bit her lower lips, to prevent herself from looking scared. After some split seconds of bracing herself, she finally turned to look at the substitute shinigami.
"Are you sure?"
Ichigo nodded, before scuttering into the sea of graves without looking at Rukia anymore. And for what Rukia had concluded, it seemed that the boy had no set destination in his mind; just trying to pass the time until it get too late and their search must then be stopped.
Kurosaki Hichigo… Ichigo's twin that Tatsuki spoke of. Maybe he hoped that they wouldn't find his graveyard, at all. Fear of the guy's words that could be the truth.
Ichigo couldn't believe what he saw right now.
On the very far-end of the hill of the graveyard, stood a small tomb, no more that a small flat stone you'd get from a poor family, with its bottom corner covered in moss. Despite the moss and the aging, nearly crumbling stone, somehow, the words engraved on it was clearly seen, way too clear, much to Ichigo's fear.
The words, that name.
A name, his family name, 'his' given name, was engraved on the small stone.
KUROSAKI HICHIGO
"No…," He stepped back, eyes widening at the name in front of him.
"No…, no…, no…! It—it's not possible—! I, I… don't have any—!"
"Twin? But I am 'ere, King." A sudden, distorted voice echoed on his mind, making the scared redhead stumbled onto the ground by surprise.
'Y-you…,'
"Yes, me, Ichigo." A light chuckle resonated in his mind, with each every passing second louder and louder, making the hair of his back prickled by the frightening voice.
"Your 'beloved' big brother, Hichigo?"
And the only thing he could hear now was a distorted mocking laugh, and… a childish giggle?
But before he could confirm whose voice it was, the darkness engulfed him.
Not much IchiHichi progression being made here. Well, this's just a prologue for the big stage next chapter where Ichi finally remember about his twin! –dramatic drum rolls-. Of course, Hichi will get his appearances in the next chapter. And, yes I love tormenting Rukia xD Ooh, and in case you had forgotten it already, this took place before the Arrancar Arc, that's why Rukia was confused by the thought of human-looking Hollow :P
And, just some information, guys. The story will update very slowly due to ever-lasting tests from school. This is my last year and sure there are many works (and tests) to be made. But, I will be free in May and (hopefully) my score will suffice so I won't repeat another terrible year of being a senior again. Wish me luck!
That's it, reviews, opinions, critics, suggestions are welcome!
