I've decided to continue this. I'm not sure how consistent I'll be, but I'll write as much as I can so long as I have the time and the ideas needed to keep the fic going. I had the sudden inspiration to write today, and I had the time, so I figured, why not?
I do not own Bleach. Obviously.
This story starts with the assumption that *SPOILER ALERT* Ichigo did defeat Aizen, but did not resort to using Mugetsu and losing his powers. I just like it better that way.
Anyways, hope you enjoy ^^
Memories of the Wind
Chapter 2
Thus Is Your Fate
She swiftly shunpoed through the forest. She automatically reached up to wipe some water off her face, which must have dripped off of a tree. It had rained just the other day…
No. There was no time to think about such trivialities. She had other, more important things to worry about.
Like Ichigo.
She raced to the Kurosaki clinic. Surely his father would have some idea where he was. It was strange. Normally she was very good at sensing the reiatsu of others, especially Ichigo's. Where could he be?
She skidded to a stop in front of the clinic. Breathing hard, she wrenched open the front door and entered. Luckily, it was around lunch time, and Ichigo's father and two sisters were sitting down to eat.
"Do.. Do you guys know where Ichigo is?" she panted.
Three pairs of eyes stared at her. By the look in Isshin's eyes, he had felt what Rukia had.
And he was worried.
Karin looked as if she had felt something strange, as well, but didn't have quite the same look as Isshin.
Isshin shook his head, almost imperceptibly, as if to say, No. Not here. Not now.
"But- Oh." Rukia began again before realizing what Ichigo's father meant. Not in front of Karin and Yuzu.
"Ahh, it's Rukia, come to talk about that project she and Ichigo had over the summer for school! Here, let's outside and talk about it! Don't worry about us, girls, just keep on eating while Daddy talks!" the bearded man redirected in his goofy way as he grabbed Rukia and walked out the door.
Once outside, he set Rukia down. After closing the door, all traces of his usual cheery demeanor disappeared. "You felt it, too?" he asked quietly.
"Of course I felt it," she replied, her worry making her sound rude. "Like I wouldn't notice if Ichigo's reiatsu suddenly disappeared." Seeing the look on Isshin's face, she relented. "I'm sorry, I'm just…"
"Worried?"
"Scared."
Isshin took a deep breath, nodding.
"I've been around Ichigo for what seems like so long, so when his reiatsu suddenly vanishes it's just… Terrifying. I can always feel his reiatsu," she added. "Always."
"But not now," Isshin interjected.
"Not now," she agreed. "Should we tell the others?"
"I'm not sure if we should get the Seireitei involved in this just yet. We need to keep damages to a minimum until we really find out what's happened."
"Alright. I'll find Ishida, Orihime, and Chad. I know they'll be wanting answers, as well."
"Sounds good for now. Make sure to tell them to be on their guard. If hollows and the like start to sense Ichigo is gone, they'll swarm to this place like flies to honey."
"But.. Surely hollows would sense you and Urahara? Chad, Ishida and I aren't exactly weaklings, either," she added, a little insulted.
"Rukia, surely you know that this place doesn't get nearly the hollows it used to, despite the high concentration of souls."
"Karakura has more defenders now. And since we took out Aizen, hollow numbers are down more than fifty percent."
Isshin shook his head. "You know that isn't the reason, Rukia."
"Then what is?" she demanded.
"Ichigo's power is tremendously great and still growing. And, last I checked, the reiatsu he gives off is more than that of an extremely powerful shinigami. It's also that of an extremely powerful hollow. Hollows are avoiding this place for the same reasons that Gillians and adjuchas avoid the areas of Hueco Mundo the Vasto Lordes inhabit. Strong predator-prey instincts. That presence goes away, and Karakura is suddenly once more a very attractive feeding ground for all sorts of hollow. If we don't find out what happened to Ichigo soon, we're in for it."
Rukia nodded. It was feasible. "And they have a lot of feeding to make up for."
"Correct."
She sighed. "I'd best get moving, then. You'll stay here?"
Isshin looked back towards his house. "I'd best stay with the girls. If they think anything's wrong, we'll have a lot more trouble on our hands."
"I'm off to Urahara's first, then. If you hear, see, or think of anything, call me."
"Will do," the older man replied.
Rukia took a deep breath before sprinting to Urahara Shoten.
He sat, perched in the tall oak overlooking the street. Running a hand through his seemingly permanently mussed hair, he sighed. "Was that all I was allowed?" he asked the air.
"Yes," replied a voice. Ichigo didn't need to turn around to know who had replied. A cold, skeletal hand rested upon his black-clad shoulder. "Then I need not tell you that your time here has come to an end. It is time to go, young one," the cloaked figure replied.
Ichigo adjusted his feet on the branch and stood. He wanted to stay, but there was not much arguing or dealing with Death. Yes, Death. Not shinigami, not soul reaper, not death god. Death, the one all beings must answer to in the end. Death, the one who orchestrated the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Death, the one who had come to take him now to the place where souls waited to be reborn again. The way Ichigo understood it, the first part of a souls "life" was in the world of the living. The second "life" of a soul took place in the Soul Society. When that "life" came to an end, and more often than naught it was a fairly long life, the soul entered what sounded to Ichigo like Purgatory, where the soul waited until the time Death saw fit to inject them back into living society.
Or so Death had explained to the curious 17 year old.
Ichigo wondered if there was anything else he could ask of Death, if only to spend more time in the world he had fought so hard to protect. He had asked of Death why he wasn't to be born into the Rukongai, as he was still, as he saw it, in the first part of his life.
But, according to Death, he was in the middle. Due to his unusual status as a shinigami with a living human body, he was in both the first and second part of his soul's life. Either fate could have awaited him, the Soul Society or "Purgatory", but Death had chosen the latter for him.
Ichigo had given much thought to ways he could persuade Death to allow him, as partially a soul in the first part of life, to fully enter the second stage in the Soul Society. He had even offered up his memories of the world of the living, offering to enter the Rukongai as one of the many amnesiac souls.
But Death had refused.
There's another way, King.
Ichigo shook his head, a quick, birdlike movement. There was another voice that taunted him, echoing in the confines of his head.
But you know I'm right, King. You know another way you can stay in the world of the living. There's another option for souls besides the Rukongai, and ya already have one foot in that ditch.
As much as Ichigo wanted to stay in this cycle of life, he was not willing to turn down that path to fulfill his wishes. It was a path he had fought tooth and nail for the last few years of his now very short life. It was a path for which he could not stand for himself.
You know ya want to, King.
No, he knew he didn't want to.
With a frown, he finally spun to face Death. To face his fate. He looked into those hollow eyes and nodded. It was time to leave.
But, as he started to follow death, a faint sound reached his ears. He blinked and turned his sharp eyes to the forest below him. His amber eyes caught a dark form flashing through the forest, sword unsheathed. He swallowed. No, he could not leave this behind. He may have heard what sounded like a faint cackle in the back of his skull, but if he did, he no longer cared. His voice cracked a little as he spoke to Death again.
"Please, I know there's another way. You know I don't have to do this," he pleaded with the ominous figure.
"And what do I know?" the quiet, dark voice issued from beneath the hood.
"There's one more question I have for you."
Death seemed to sigh. "Ask."
"Has a hollow ever entered this 'Purgatory' of yours?"
"It is not Purgatory."
"You know what I mean!"
"Why do you ask this, young one?"
"Aren't all souls who pass through the Soul Society cleansed? As in, to get into the Soul Society, one must either have been konso-ed or a shinigami must have defeated them as a hollow to return them to an ordinary soul. So, wouldn't that mean that, to enter into 'Purgatory', one must have been either a shinigami or a normal soul?"
"Perhaps. And this pertains to your situation how?"
"I don't pass either of those requirements."
"Who said they were requirements?"
Ichigo paused. "It just… Makes sense. I'm not an ordinary soul, I'm a shinigami. And… I'm not even fully one of those. I'm half hollow. How does someone like that get into 'Purgatory'?"
Death regarded him impassively. "You really are quite the stubborn one, are you not?"
Ichigo chuckled. "I've been called that, yeah," he said with a small smile. "And worse."
Death took the skeletal hand off of Ichigo's shoulder. "Do not think that anything is beyond the power of Death, young shinigami. Death takes hollows and arrancar just as readily as shinigami and humans if and when the cycle requires it. For your stubbornness, I am tempted to leave you in what you know as 'Hell' for a few centuries to teach you a much-needed lesson. But… Your determination interests me. You may have your wish, but it will not be as you expect."
Ichigo blinked. Had he really swayed Death? "I'll do anything, take any punishment or pay any price-" he began but was cut off as Death waved a white hand.
"Do not be so eager, young one. I do not believe you will like this."
Deep within Ichigo's soul, the voice laughed. But I will. I knew I'd get my way, King, it snidely remarked.
Ichigo, out of long habit and practice, continued to ignore the hollow. As happy as he was to get a second chance, he realized he should be polite. This was Death, after all. He bowed, exclaiming, "Thank you!"
"Don't thank me yet, young shinigami. Once I explain what fate holds for you, you will not be so eager."
Surely it can't be that bad, Ichigo thought to himself.
Oh, but wait to you hear what he has to say!
"I was willing to allow you to take the easier option, shinigami, but you seem determined to take the more difficult path. In exchange for your 'good' deeds in this life, you were to be granted a peaceful transition into the cycle of rebirth. You have chosen to stay, and thus the path of suffering and violence is the only one remaining to you. Do you insist upon this choice?"
Path of suffering and violence? I've been there before. I can take whatever this guy throws at me.
You're not going to like this, sang the hollow. I knew I could trick ya into saying something ya shouldn't when you're this desperate!
Like you could trick me.
The hollow seemed to be holding back laughter at this point.
Ichigo once again ignored the hollow and replied to Death. "I do."
"So you have spoken, and so shall it be. I do not like to see one deserving of peace suffer, but it will be as it will." After these words, Death appeared to grow in size, the darkness that seemed a part of his being enlarging and shifting about.
"Kurosaki Ichigo."
The orange-haired teen stiffened.
"You have pled for a fate most flee from. This fate will be both a blessing and a curse. Your blessing is as you wish, to remain in this life. Your curse, young one, is to be bound to the part of you you have used to plea with Death."
Ichigo swallowed. "I.. I don't understand."
"The meaning of this fate is that you are to stay in this world as a hollow, Kurosaki Ichigo. Just as your shinigami powers were dominant within your soul previously, so will the power you have feared and fought dominate your soul. You will be hunted by those you once held dear, as they will not recognize you. You are forbidden from revealing your true nature to anyone. You can fight to save them all you wish, Kurosaki Ichigo, but they will not be thankful. They will not be your friends any longer."
Ichigo stood stock still. He could not have imagined this. The hollow began chuckling faintly.
"Thus is your fate."
Ichigo felt a faint itch in his heart. His hand came up and lightly scratched his chest as the itch slowly became an ache and then a pain.
"It is not a fate I would with for you, boy, so I will grant some leniency. There are ways this would not be so unbearable, if only you find a way to accept."
Ichigo finally looked down at his aching chest in time to see a hole open up, right in the middle of his sternum.
The hollow's quiet chuckle quickly became a roaring laugh.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed ^^
As always, reviews with comments and ideas (especially ideas) are greatly appreciated.
Feel free to ask questions, I'm sure I made a few mistakes and I'd be glad to either explain myself or correct them.
My thanks to SeraphinaDonna, oneluckyduck Sponge Fan (anon), Bluishorbs, JJJ (anon), and icywarm for reviewing to the first chapter of this much too long ago. Hope you read this and like what you read :)
Thanks for reading!
-Flameses