Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, Rosario + Vampire, or any of the characters contained therein either story. I write this for my own amusement, the amusement of my fellow fans of said series, and for the sake of technical practice in writing itself. Do not ingest without first consulting a physician.
I waive ownership rights to any original characters created by me, for this crossover, if the original creator(s) of either of the two aforementioned manga wish to use them. However if said event occurs, I humbly ask to be consulted first.
Though frankly, if either author even so much as acknowledges this story exists, I think I might die from shock.
This story is rated M for violence, coarse language, and mild innuendo. Reader discretion is advised.
Before anyone asks, I don't plan on using honorifics for this story. I just find it strange to use Japanese honorifics when writing in English. I also do not plan on using the translated name for shinigami, even though I'm using the translated name of the Gotei 13. I'd use soul reaper, but it just doesn't have the cool sound to it that shinigami does. Just thought I'd put that out there for anyone reading this preemptively.
Chapter 1: To Regard a Rendezvous
The deep, hissing roar of turbine engines filled the air as Ichigo Kurosaki, his sisters Yuzu and Karin, and his father, Isshin, made their way out of the main entrance of the Honolulu International Airport. Even as day gave way to the night, the bustling complex teemed with crowds of people coming and going from the busy terminal. It was like an endless current of human motion, filled with people moving about their daily lives, flowing without heed or care for the arrival of a few foreign tourists.
"So this is O'ahu?" Asked Karin, to the wind. The eleven year old girl pushed a stray bit of her black hair away from her eyes with her free left hand as she took in the sights for the first time, her right hand occupied with a blue duffel bag that contained her personal effects. Dressed in a simple short-sleeved, olive green t-shirt and red shorts, the young ladies stoical attitude belayed the fact that she was much more excited to be here than she'd willingly admit to the other members of her family.
"How can you be so calm, Karin?" Cried the twin sister that paced alongside her, Yuzu, her own green bag swinging like a pendulum from the motion of her small arms as she bounced around in excitement. In contrast to her more serious sister, Yuzu wore a frilly goldenrod sundress with a matching, wide brimmed sun hat, making the two twin sisters seem as different as night and day. She huffed slightly, as if her sister's calm expression was a personal problem that she needed to fix, right now.
The fact that despite being so different, both girls somehow managed to accidentally wear matching sandals was nothing short of astounding.
"Yeah!" Hollered the deep, masculine voice of their father, Isshin, who wore a multicolor aloha shirt with a dazzling floral pattern, green shorts, and a pink floral garland called a lei around his neck. His gestures would have been just as colorful as his wardrobe, if he weren't weighed down by half a dozen bags containing an array of clothes and knickknacks the elder Kurosaki felt he needed, "how can you be so calm, Karin! The beaches, the spas, the surf! We're in paradise, and it's free!"
The black haired little girl simply shrugged, a deadpan expression on her face as she looked up at her encumbered parent, and said in a tone laced with an absolutely miniscule touch of sarcasm, "And just why are you so excited, anyway?"
"Why?" Isshin cried out dramatically, almost in a shriek as he tried, and failed, to wave his arms around in dissent, "the sounds, the smells, the sights! It's as if we've entered a whole new world, full of thrills to seek and treasures to find! How could I not be excited!"
"Yeah, Karin, how could you not be excited!" Yuzu echoed, mimicking the wild gestures her father was trying to make despite being weighed down by his veritable pile of junk.
"Be careful, old-man," sighed Ichigo, as he trailed a few paces behind his father and sisters, "you're going to drop your bags."
"Nonsense, Ichigo!" Isshin called back in a voice filled with absolute confidence, spinning around on his left heel alone, his right foot pressed against his left leg in what looked like a poorly performed ballerina twirl, "I'm as agile as a crane, and as graceful as a panther! I won't even drop a bead of sweat, let alone a bag!"
"Right..." Ichigo uttered, trailing off as he turned his gaze away from his father towards another jet as it roared to life overhead, bound for the brilliantly glowing orange sunset in the west. His clothes were ordinary, and came out of his daily casual wardrobe. He wore a purple t-shirt, with red trim along the hems that read 'nice vibe' in white capital letters, with a small yellow star just to the right of the letter e, and an ordinary pair of form fitting blue jeans.
"Come on, Ichi-nii!" Yuzu chimed as she walked back to her brother, grabbed onto his wrist, and pulled him up to walk alongside them, "Let's go! Our ride to the hotel should be waiting for us just down the road!"
Ichigo gave no resistance as his sister threatened to yank his arm out from her enthusiastic tugs. His usual scowl had been replaced by a new countenance; a bored demeanor, masking a subtle detachment to his environment tinged by an only slightly discernible measure of sadness. To his family and his friends, this new normal face was far more ugly than any scowl they'd ever seen the former shinigami make in the past, but none yet had found a way to make it go away.
To his credit, he tried not to let his younger sisters see him make it often. Collecting himself quickly, the orange haired boy adopted a happy, broad grin as Yuzu lead him down the road, towards the pick-up and drop-off area of the airport parking lot. It was a fake look, and he knew they knew it, but he was trying his best not to make them worry.
According to the brochure given to them when they 'won' their contest, they were to meet up with the family of the other grand prize winner and be escorted to the hotel by limousine, where they'd be shown to their rooms and presented an evening dinner. At the dinner, they'd be told exactly what kind of activities they'd be participating in during their stay, and what kind of schedule they'd have to keep. Ichigo had thought that a strict schedule of activities defeated the point of a vacation, but kept his opinion to himself. His father, Yuzu, and Karin had obviously been excited for the trip, and he wasn't about to spoil it for them.
"Ah, good, that must be the limousine over there!" Isshin bellowed, half-gesturing with his right arm to a white stretch limo he'd managed to spot in the distance. He didn't even notice one of the bags fall out of his arms as he did so, landing behind him with a soft plop.
"Told you so," Ichigo said sardonically, eyeballing the fallen bag as his father continued to gesture to the limousine obliviously.
"What?" Isshin barked, still not realizing he'd dropped something, "I didn't hear you say anything about the limo?"
"Sir, I think he means your bag," came a new voice, coming up from behind them in perfect Japanese.
"Huh?" Isshin yelped, turning around just in time to see a slender boy with short, brown hair dressed in a much less colorful red aloha shirt and white shorts, offering him his lost bag with his left hand, which jingled with a strange looking lock and chain ornament. Reaching out, Isshin retrieved the lost bag gratefully, "Why thank you, young man! I never would have noticed!"
Ichigo and Karin could hardly resist the urge to face palm.
The boy nodded, skipping off to their right towards a man and woman that they could only presume to be his parents. Strange, Ichigo thought, he could have sworn he'd seen them before somewhere. Maybe they came in on the same plane?
"Hey, Ichi-nii, wasn't that boy the son of the other contest winner?" Karin asked, her tone rather matter-of-fact.
"I don't know, he does look kind of familiar," Ichigo said uncertainly. He pondered the thought for a moment, as he and his family continued on towards the limousine. Continued on, at least, until their attention was drawn back towards their right when they heard a girl's voice yell out above the sounds of the airport 'Yahoo!'
Sitting atop a large, white traffic barrier was a beautiful young lady of about Ichigo's age with stunning blue hair cut to just above her shoulders. She was clothed in a red tank top with matching ribbon tied in a bow beneath her considerable bust, a dark gray and black knee length plaid skirt, and black flip flop sandals – all of which stood out in stark contrast to her perfectly clear cream colored skin. Yet her most striking feature was definitely the expression of warmth she beamed even more evidently than the warm colors of her outfit. It was quite clear from the twinkle in her violet eyes that she was absolutely, positively thrilled to see whatever it was she was looking at.
"Tsukune!" She cried out, hopping down off the barrier as she raised her left hand, waving in a wide arc towards the boy who'd just retrieved Isshin's handbag. Staring on in wonder, the elder Kurosaki couldn't help but let his mouth fall agape.
"Whoa, that kid's girlfriend is hot!" Isshin uttered, earning him a swift jab to the chin from Karin, "Ow! But, it's true! Damn it, Ichigo, why can't you have a hot girlfriend like that?"
Two more jabs from Karin later, and Isshin lay twitching in a pile of his own bags on the side of the road.
Ichigo simply ignored his old man, in favor of watching the ongoing situation with bemused interest. It seemed to him that despite not being in an island where Japanese was a common language, there were a lot of people who spoke it around here.
"Kurumu?" The boy named Tsukune exclaimed in utter shock, his gaze shifting nervously as if expecting the growing shadows from the setting sun to reach out and grab him. Upon hearing her name, the blue haired girl rushed over and embraced the boy, practically crushing his head in a vice grip between her arms and her chest as his parents watched in astonishment.
"Tsukune!" She cried out happily as she snuggled her cheek against the top of his head, her mind absent to the fact that her actions were drawing a crowd of onlookers, "when I heard you were coming here on vacation, I knew I just had to be here to see you!"
"But, wait, how did you-"
"She came with us," another girl's voice said, its owner appearing as if out of nowhere from the boy's perspective, directly behind him. This new young woman wore a mane of lavender hair that seemed content to crest out rebelliously like small leaves on a palm tree, with eyes that matched the tone of her hair completely. She fidgeted slightly, as if nervous, her almost perfect porcelain complexion free from even a bead of sweat despite warm island breeze. She was dressed in a conservatively cut blue colored two piece swimsuit, her lower body covered by an additional, cyan colored shawl. A fragrant band of pink blossoms draped down her neck, catching slightly in the breeze. She shifted a candy of some sort around in her mouth, evident by the sway of a long white stick from the left side of her lips to the right as she spoke with a voice that was close to a hushed whisper, "Tsukune, why couldn't your vacation have been somewhere more comfortable, like the Alps, or Scandinavia?"
"M-Mizore too?" Tsukune stuttered, the blue haired girl finally releasing him from her grip, "does that mean-"
"Yukari's here too!" A small girl called out, apparently about the age of Karin and Yuzu, as she came running out from inside the parking garage. Her bizarre outfit made her look like a comical depiction of a witch, hat and everything. Long locks of chocolate brown hair escaped down from her brown colored, wide brimmed witches hat, which was well accented in tandem with her purple blouse and dull yellow plaid skirt. It wasn't really her that caught Tsukune's attention, though. What did, was the tall girl with long pink hair that strode out from behind her.
"Moka!" He said, his voice turning more bubbly as the new arrival stepped out of the garage and crossed towards the growing group. Her outfit was more reserved than either the blue or lavender haired girls, consisting of a green v-neck shirt with short sleeves, a pair of dull yellow shorts, white tennis shoes with matching socks, and am olive green sun visor. Her delicate, lithe body and perfectly unblemished skin made her look almost like a goddess amongst mortals. For a brief moment, it seemed to onlookers like the blue and lavender haired girls turned to glare at the new arrival, while the younger girl cheered.
"No, I think that one's probably the girlfriend," Yuzu whispered to Karin, who by this point had just about lost interest in the entire affair as it unfolded before them.
"Who cares?" She asked with a shrug, "let them have their hugging match, we have a ride to catch."
"But Karin, look at the scandal!" Yuzu said, her eyes pleading as she gestured to the group of girls, now encircling the boy as they continued to chat about something that the Kurosakis couldn't quite make out thanks to the still growing crowd, "don't you want to see what happens next?"
"I DO!" Isshin cried out, finally digging himself out head first from the mountain of bags he'd found himself under, just in time to get planted back in by Karin's left foot.
"Nobody asked you!"
"So, Tsukune!" Kurumu chirped, finally taking her eyes off Moka as she tried to pry Tsukune's attention off the pink haired vampire and firmly back to her, "where are you staying on your trip?"
"I'm not sure, actually," Tsukune answered, his eyes shifting uncomfortably towards the blue haired succubus, "We haven't even found our ride to the hotel yet."
"Then what are we waiting for!" Kurumu cried happily, folding her arm into Tsukune's and latching unto him as tightly as a grizzly bear latches unto a freshly caught salmon, "let's go find them!"
"What about you... where are you staying?" Tsukune asked, a cold feeling of dread forming in the bottom of his stomach at the answer he already knew was coming.
"Well, at your hotel, of course!" Kurumu answered brusquely, "where else?"
"I had a feeling you were going to say that," Tsukune said, a light feeling of dizziness forming to keep the dread he felt in his stomach company.
"Tsukune, are you going to introduce your father to your friends?" an older looking woman who bore strong resemblance to her son said, interrupting the en masse girl fawning he was receiving. Turning to face his father – a taller man with short brown hair, handsome features and a strong, set jaw, dressed in an almost identical outfit to his sons – Tsukune's face couldn't help but turn red.
"D-dad, these are my friends from school, Moka Akashiya, Kurumu Kurono, Yukari Sendo, and Mizore Shirayuki," Tsukune declared, gesturing to each girl as he announced them, who in turn made a nod of greeting or a bow in curtsey.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Koji Aono, Tsukune's father," Koji answered, a proud smile on his face at the now neatly lined up array of girls, "What an incredible coincidence, running into you here on the island of O'ahu."
"It's not a coincidence," Mizore replied curtly, her gaze cast shyly away from Koji's eyes, "Tsukune told us you were coming here."
"Is that so?" Koji replied, casting a knowing look sidelong at his son, who shook his head furiously.
"I just mentioned that we had a vacation coming up, I had no idea they were-"
"We wanted to surprise you, Tsukune," Moka explained, a sweet smile on her face, "so we all made plans to come here and greet you."
"Well, you certainly accomplished that," Tsukune's mother, Kasumi, said with a chuckle, "Will you be coming with us to the hotel?"
"Definitely, we will!" Yukari said, her tone fervent as she spun in place beside Moka.
"I hope we have room, there's supposed to be another whole family that has to ride along with us to the hotel," Tsukune said, his voice showing a bit of concern as he realized that the seven of them would make for quite a large group.
"Ah, you worry too much, Tsukune!" Kurumu said cheerfully as she tightened her grip on Tsukune's arm, "I'm sure there will be more than enough room to go around!"
None of them noticed a man with long, braided hair and dirty brown clothes slip out of the crowd and casually inch towards Kasumi with a dangerous glint in his eyes. Not until, in a flash of motion, he ripped her bag clear out of her grasp, threw the woman to the ground, and darted down the road into the crowd of stunned onlookers with her belongings in hand.
"Hey, stop!" Koji yelled, pursuing after the swift thief, with Tsukune and Kurumu right behind him. Frowning, Mizore pulled her hand to the side, as if about to do something dangerous, only to be interrupted by Moka as she softly moved to restrain the lavender haired girl, her fingers brushing ever so slightly against the snow-woman's wrist.
"But he-" Mizore protested, only to be met by Moka's shaking head. Scowling slightly, Mizore looked away, irritated by the vampire's apparent disapproval with what she was about to do.
"Stop, damn you!" Koji shouted as the thief gained ground on him, darting through the startled crowd at a rate that the more sluggish Koji couldn't contend with.
Until out of nowhere, the bottom sole of a shoe stopped him dead in his tracks, that is.
"Purse snatching, really?" Ichigo said darkly, as he lifted the bag from the stunned thief now sprawled flat on the road. Turning to face Tsukune, Koji, and Kurumu, Ichigo offered them the bag and said with a shrug of his shoulders, "well, I guess it's only fair I get to return the favor."