Ichigo didn't know when she was born, where her name came from, or what these monsters were, but all she knew was what her instincts told her: Survive. So day in and day out, she'd kill these monsters and eat them whenever she felt hungry.
Every day was the same for a long time. Fight. Eat. Fight again. Get lost into the fight as bloodlust overwhelmed her. Rest.
But one day she came across some people trying to flee from the same monsters she hunted, and everything in her screamed at her to protect them. So she quickly engaged and swiftly killed the monsters.
She ripped into them with her hands, kicked them and reduced them to a bloody paste, and chewed and devoured them when she held them or had nothing else to use to kill.
"A... Are you all r-right...?" She asked when all the marchen were dead. She had never used her voice before aside from yells in battle, so her question came out hoarse and rough.
They stared at her in fear as they nodded. She gave them a warm smile as she noticed they wore clothing. She had an idea to what was clothing was, but wore none as she couldn't get any that wouldn't interfere with fights.
Soon she began to walk with them. They gave the young girl a cloak as she acted as their protector as they made their way to a small village like place in one of the white, almost webby walls of this place she calls home.
"I'm Ichigo. My name means 'Number One Guardian'." She told the people she protected when they asked who she was.
The people at the village were shocked to find out that this naked, orange haired girl who looked to be not even be in her teens had killed marchen. But they couldn't deny it as they looked at her and saw the pink blood of marchen all over her while she licked it off of herself.
Soon they gave clothes and a small home to live in. She was terrifyingly strong, but she could protect them and keep the village safe if she stayed. So while they might be scared of her, she was essentially their future.
Years passed and soon they had a blacksmith working on a sword for her. She had no idea how she knew, but she knew she wanted a long daito with three prongs towards the tip. So after gathering the materials from marchen, which she was told what was the monsters were, they worked on her blade.
Soon she had a sword that was longer than she was tall, and she loved it, and named it Tensa Zangetsu.
She immediately went out to hunt as soon as it was finished. After a few fights, and her hair turned back into orange from white, which was odd, she noticed some marchen bullying a green haired child. Without hesitation she cut them all down, her prowess with the blade was as if she had been using Tensa Zangetsu for years.
"Are you okay?" She asked the child, noting it was now oddly dark.
"Eek! Please! No hurt! Leave!"
"Woah, I won't hurt you! My name is Ichigo, and I protect people, not hurt them." She then noticed that the child looked oddly like a marchen. but she paid that no mind as they could be using that to hide from marchen.
"But... I'm Nightmare... Monster..." They then turned their face to them, now Ichigo saw the eyes. She knew it was a marchen, but she couldn't shake the desire to protect them.
"Hm... Nope! You're a person! don't you dare argue me on this point! I'm very short tempered and I will have no other answer! Got it." She said as she looked as intimidating as possible.
The child shivered but nodded wordlessly.
"Good. Now, want to come with me to my village?" Ichigo asked with a good natured smile.
"I... No think that's smart... I'm weak... And humans probably don't like marchen, much less Nightmares..." They said sadly.
She frowned but nodded. "Alright, but if you ever need saving, don't hesitate to call on me. Got it?"
The child smiled. "Okay...! Thank you and bye bye!" They said before scurrying off.
"Ah..! Damn, forgot to ask what their name was..."
Over the next year, Ichigo saved the child a few more times, always forgetting to get their name, but then they disappeared.
The people in her village had finally put an age on her. Thirteen. She was thirteen years old. She continued what she did either way. Soon she had turned fifteen and it was two years since her friend disappeared.
She was a tall woman, almost taller than most of the men. Her orange hair reached all the way down to her thighs, her hair as free as the wind. Her brown eyes were kind as she played with children often and held those who were younger, she was like a big sister. She wore worn out pants and shirt, as it was all she could get with the resources they had.
Most villagers were wary of her. Mostly the adults. Younger ones saw her as a big, powerful sister. Those not that old still viewed her as threatening, but was easy to get along with.
One day as she was hunting, the area started getting dark, she thought it was her friend and rushed to see them. What she saw was a monster that looked like a bamboo construct with an eye in the center.
She knew it wasn't her friend and went to engage them, fueling her lust for battle. But it was more faster and powerful than she expected. In an instant, her head lit up in pain and the vision in her right eye was gone.
When she quickly disengaged the brief clash and felt her eye, she only felt an empty, warm, wet socket where her eye was. She looked on in horror at the monster her empty eye socket drizzling blood from the wound. But even as despair clutched her heart, she didn't back down she held her daito with both hands and began to fully engage this monstrosity. She held nothing back as she honed her instincts to their limit and pushed her body as hard as it could. This monster could not be allowed near her people.
But with the loss of her vision, she didn't see one of the strikes as much as she felt her right arm getting torn off as well. But it still held her blade even still.
She screamed in pain, all of the minor injuries along her devastating ones starting to take it's toll on her. She heard the damn thing laughing at her!
"If you think that's so fucking funny, then get a load of this! GETSUGA TENSHOU!!!"
She screamed out and launched a massive black and violet colored attack. After it landed she saw she did an enormous amount of damage. She smiled confidently before she saw the damn thing almost completely regenerate. She realized it was hopeless. So she ran.
She ran all the way to the village before she collapsed.
When she began to wake up, she felt bandages covering most of her body and was wearing a gown. She then began to sit up, with everything she could.
"Ichigo, please, I'm glad to see you up, but you need to lay down." The doctor nearby said.
"No way... I need... Tensa Zangetsu..." As soon as she said that she saw him. Her blade. And... disgustingly enough, her missing arm. She began to walk over, stumble over to it when they heard screaming.
She immediately grabbed Tensa Zangetsu and ran outside, completely abandoning any thoughts of her injuries. She saw the monstrosity at the destroyed gate with marchen coming in to abduct HER people.
She didn't know this, but her eyes began to glow a deep pink. Her grip on her sword tightened and she leapt forward. With a few strokes of her blade, Tensa Zangetsu launched several Getsuga.
Everyone stared in shock as they have almost all seen her fight, she had rescued many of them and brought them here. So they knew that a Getsuga that strong were usually charged beforehand.
Each Getsuga hit a marchen with such precision that no one had been harmed by her hand, but obviously there were still those who were injured or killed because of these beasts. She continued to cut down marchen after marchen until she got to the monstrosity, then charged. She hit it like a train and launched it far out of the village and started charging after it, doing an enormous amount of damage to it.
Ichigo felt a well of darkness overwhelm her and she let out a scream as her consciousness faded out.
I hope this came out alright. I've ideas of this swirling around in my head ever since the second game came out, but held myself off until the third was announced.
The the finale was announced and decided to full send my idea once I've finished it and spent plenty of time rereading and going through it until I felt like this came out fine. So here it is!
I do so hope you enjoyed and leave any comments or criticisms you have and I'll make sure to read through it all! Don't expect another chapter soon, this did take me a couple of months to get satisfactory.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and have a good one!